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Excerpt
This study describes the influence of family support for physical activity and access to community leisure facilities on the frequency of physical activity over a 2-year period in boys (n=183) and girls (n=192) initially aged 10 and 11 years. Participants were part of a cohort of families from an ancillary study of the Quebec Heart Health Demonstration Project, an intervention and research initiative conducted in 32 communities across urban, suburban, and rural sites in Quebec, Canada. In 1995, parents rated their family's support for physical activity (Cronbach alpha=.82) and their perceptions of accessibility to community leisure facilities (Cronbach alpha=.70). Children reported on their involvement in 27 activities in the previous 7 days in 1995 and 1997. Analyses controlling for site of residence showed that children's frequency of physical activity in 1995 was positively associated with activity in 1997 explaining 21.4% and 13.1% of the variance in boys and girls respectively. While family support did not explain any additional variance (p>.05), analyses showed that fathers' perceptions of accessibility to community facilities explained an additional 2% of the variance in boys' activity levels in 1997. No such effects were observed for girls. We conclude that family support has limited influence on activity over 2 years but that access to community leisure facilities may promote activity involvement in boys.
