Parent anxiety and perceptions of their child's physical activity and sedentary behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada

Gavin R McCormack; Patricia K Doyle-Baker; Jennie A Petersen; Dalia Ghoneim

doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2020.101275

Parent anxiety and perceptions of their child's physical activity and sedentary behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada

Prev Med Rep. 2020 Dec:20:101275. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2020.101275. Epub 2020 Dec 2.

Authors

Gavin R McCormack^{1

2

3

4}, Patricia K Doyle-Baker^{2

3}, Jennie A Petersen^{1

5}, Dalia Ghoneim¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Canada.
² Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, Canada.
³ School of Planning, Architecture, and Landscape, University of Calgary, Canada.
⁴ Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Japan.
⁵ Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, Brock University, Canada.

Abstract

The public health emergency response to the COVID-19 virus has involved physical distancing strategies to reduce person-to-person transmission. Pandemics, including COVID-19, may influence changes to physical activity and sedentary behaviours among children. However, the role of parent anxiety related to COVID-19 on children's physical activity and sedentary behaviours has yet to be explored. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between parent COVID-19 anxiety and physical activity and sedentary behaviours among school-aged children (5-17 years) and; to describe these behaviour patterns among school-aged children in relation to the COVID-19 public health emergency response. Between April and June 2020, a random sample of adults (Calgary, Canada) completed an online questionnaire. This sample included 345 parents of at least one school-aged child (80.5% aged 5 to 11 years and 54.9% male). Approximately one-third of parents (35.7%) reported being extremely or very anxious about COVID-19. During this period, most children increased television watching (58.8%), computing or gaming (56.4%), and use of screen-based devices (75.9%). Not surprisingly, given the mandated closure of playgrounds, approximately one-half of children decreased playing at the park (52.7%) and in public spaces (53.7%). Children's physical activity at home either increased (48.8%) or remained unchanged (32.9%). Children of more anxious parents had fewer visits to the park and were more likely to spend ≥2 h/day computing or gaming compared with children of less anxious parents. Strategies to counteract the unintended consequences of the COVID-19 public health measures on parent and child wellbeing are needed.

Keywords: Pandemic; Physical activity; Physical distancing; Public health; Sedentary behaviour.