The Moderating Role of Parental Involvement On Adolescent Physical Activity

Introduction:  Hispanic youth are more likely to be overweight and obese because of their inadequate levels of physical activity. Relatively fewer Hispanic youth report (33%) meeting the recommended levels of physical activity compared to their non-Hispanic white counterparts (40%). As research has identified socially and culturally robust health risk and protective factors that operate at the family level, researchers have come to understand the important role parents and families play in the healthy development of adolescents. Family processes such as family functioning have been shown to impact a constellation of youth health behaviors and conditions, including levels of physical activity. By targeting youth engagement in physical activity, family-based interventions have emerged as key strategies for preventing disease and disability related to energy imbalance. This study examines the effects of Familias Unidas on adolescent physical activity and evaluates the role of family functioning in moderating the intervention effects.

Methods:  Participants were 746 Hispanic youth and their caregivers randomly assigned to either Familias Unidas (n=376) or Community Practice (370). Participants were assessed at baseline and 6 months post-baseline. Regression analyses were conducted to test for intervention effects on youth physical activity, adjusting for baseline physical activity. Finally, moderation of the change in youth physical activity was analyzed with respect to baseline family functioning.

Results: Overall findings indicate no significant intervention effect on physical activity. However, parental involvement significantly moderated the relationship between intervention and physical activity at the 6 month follow up (b=-0.015, p=0.02). Post-hoc analyses revealed that among youth with low baseline parental involvement (<=M-1sd), intervention recipients reported significantly (b=0.30, p=0.034) greater physical activity 6 months later, adjusting for physical activity at baseline. Moreover, among youth with high baseline parental involvement (>=M+1sd), there was no significant difference in physical activity between the intervention and control conditions (b=-0.212, p=0.260) at 6 months follow-up.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that increasing parental involvement impacts healthy adolescent development by increasing youth engagement in physical activity.