SynthesisThe international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity2020
Association between parent and child physical activity: a systematic review.
Synthesis in The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 110 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
110 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Health Outcomes in Children and Adolescents With Overweight or Obesity Exposed to Physical Activity Interventions: An Umbrella Review Covering Over 1200 Trials.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026Pooled it
- Comprehensive exercise recommendations for pediatric asthma: an evidence synthesis.World journal of pediatrics : WJP · 2026Pooled it
- Mindfulness-based interventions for improvement of lifestyle behaviors and body mass index in children with overweight or obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of pediatrics · 2025Pooled it
- Determinants of Outdoor Time in Children and Youth: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal and Intervention Studies.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Parents' and Children's (6-12 Years Old) Physical Activity Association: A Systematic Review from 2001 to 2020.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Parent Involvement in Diet or Physical Activity Interventions to Treat or Prevent Childhood Obesity: An Umbrella Review.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- Trial
- Six-month intervention effect of a digital movement behavior intervention on parent- and child intermediary outcomes-results from the Let's Grow randomized controlled trial.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2025Trial
- Associations Between Parent's and Child's Total Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior among Hispanic/Latino Families.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2025Trial
- Factors impacting physical activity among post-treatment pediatric cancer survivors with overweight and obesity.European journal of pediatrics · 2024Trial
- Process and effect evaluation of the app-based parenting programFrontiers in public health · 2022Trial
- Improving children's fundamental movement skills through a family-based physical activity program: results from the "Active 1 + FUN" randomized controlled trial.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2021Trial
- A door opener to physical capability and social community: children's and parents' experiences of physical activity on prescription by the Swedish school health service.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2026Article
- Parent-child association of sedentary behavior according to parental physical activity level: The EPI-FAMILY health-study.Sports medicine and health science · 2026Article
- Association of parental moderate-to-vigorous physical activity with child overweight/obesity, physical fitness and MVPA guideline adherence: dose-response analyses among schoolchildren.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Article
- Associations between parental role modeling of physical activity and overweight and obesity in children and adolescents: words, actions, or both? A cross-sectional study of young children's population in Shanghai.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Effect of parent attendance at an adult commercial weight management programme on their children.BMJ paediatrics open · 2026Article
- Body mass index (BMI) versus socioeconomic factors and physical activity in early childhood.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Fundamental Movement Skill Development in Children With Intellectual Disabilities: An 8-Week Coach-Led and Parent-Supported Intervention.Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARID · 2026Article
50 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundChildhood represents an important life stage for establishment of physical activity (PA) habits. Parents are assumed to play an important role in influencing children's PA. Earlier reviews have mainly focused on parental modelling, encouragement, and support for PA, rather than the actual PA levels of parents. Therefore, the purpose of this review was to systematically summarize the evidence on the relationship between parent and child PA.
methodsPapers were identified using electronic databases and manual searches of reference lists. Papers reporting on associations between objectively measured child PA and at least one measure of parental PA were included. The quality of the papers was assessed using a modified version of the ROBINS-I tool. For interpretation of the results across studies, we produced albatross plots for all studies combined and by age-groups, sex of the parents, sex of the child, methodology of assessment of parental PA, and type of PA.
resultsThirty-nine papers were included with sample size of parent-child dyads ranging from 15 to 1267 (mean = 319 dyads, median = 227 dyads). The majority of studies were published from 2008 to 2018 and used accelerometry to assess PA. Most of the studies were classified as having moderate, serious, or critical risk of bias. The albatross plot for all studies combined showed that the clear majority of studies observed a positive relationship between parent and child PA. The plot suggested an average magnitude of correlation across studies to be around 0.13, and the overall impression was that this was fairly similar across child age-groups and gender of parent-child dyads. Studies using objective assessment of parental PA showed stronger relationship between parent and child PA compared with studies using self-report (average magnitude of correlation around 0.16 vs 0.04 respectively). No clear evidence was found for the strength of relationship being dependent on type of PA measure of parent and child (total PA, moderate-to-vigorous PA, steps), however, the relationship for light PA appeared weaker.
conclusionThis systematic review showed that the clear majority of studies observed a weak positive relationship between parent and child PA regardless of age of the child, the gender of the parent-child dyad, and type of PA.
trial registrationRegistration in PROSPERO: CRD42019093462.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.