Linking Autonomy-Supportive Parenting with Their Children's Autonomous Motivation Toward, and Participation in, Physical Activity.

backgroundHealth behaviors and motives within family units are likely to be associated with the motives and behaviors of other family members. A potential mechanism for these relations is that parents citing autonomous motives toward physical activity are more likely to support their child's autonomous motivation to be active. The current study tested a model specifying relations between parent autonomous motivation and parent, child, and parent-and-child joint physical activity behavior with parent autonomy-supportive parenting, child-perceived autonomy support, and child autonomous motivation specified as mediators of the autonomous motivation-child physical activity relationship.

methodData on autonomous motivation, autonomy-supportive parenting, perceived autonomy support, and physical activity, both alone and jointly between parents and children, were collected from a sample of 88 Finnish parent-child dyads and analyzed using a partial least squares structural equation modeling.

resultsFindings indicated associations between parent autonomous motivation and parent and joint parent-child physical activity, and an indirect effect of autonomy-supportive parenting on child physical activity mediated by child-perceived autonomy support and autonomous motivation.

conclusionResults provide a potential explanation for relations between parental motives and child physical activity as a function of supportive parenting and signpost potential targets for family-based behavior change interventions.