Parents Shape their Children’s Physical Activity During Unstructured Recess Through Intrinsic Value the Children Possess

Abstract

Parents beliefs processes has shown to relate to their children’s decisions making. Thus, grounded in the expectancy-value theory, the aim of this study was to examine parents’ role in shaping elementary school students’ beliefs and task values toward students’ school-time physical activity (PA) and their moderate-to-vigorous (MVPA) behavior during unstructured recess. A convenience sample of 115 (Mage = 10.12±1.81) children and their parents/guardians were recruited, and their expectancy-beliefs and attainment, utility, and interest values toward school-time PA were assessed. In addition, children’s MVPA during recess was measured using waist-attached accelerometers. Results showed that parents impacted children’s recess PA in different ways depending on children’s gender. In girls, parents’ beliefs and values transferred directly to the subsequent values of their children, whereas parents’ beliefs were the central predictors of boys’ beliefs and values. Parents’ intrinsic value moderated girls’ MVPA via the intrinsic value of the participants possessed (Z = 1.73, p = .010, 90% CI [.36, 2.93]), whereas parents’ beliefs moderated boys’ intrinsic value – MVPA relationship (Z = .78, p < .001, 90% CI [.39, 1.10]). This study suggests applying gender-specific strategies when trying to understand how beliefs and task values impact PA-related behaviors.