Clarifying the Relationships between Rural Parenting Practices and Child Sedentary Behaviors

Abstract

Childhood obesity is a growing problem in the United States. Though a great body of research has focused on this area, little is still known about the factors that influence this phenomenon in rural settings. Sedentary behavior and parenting factors are just two factors that influence this trend toward obesity. However, even less is known about how the intersection of parenting influences affects child sedentary behaviors in rural communities. This study examines the relationship between parenting factors and child sedentary behaviors within the context of rurality.

This study was completed in two parts. Part one consisted of a comprehensive review of the literature that provided background on the current practices and set the stage for the statistical analysis that followed. Part two included the statistical analysis, which focused on examining the relationships between parents’ TV and behavior rules, and child’s sedentary activity behaviors. Pearson correlation and Spearman’s rank were used to assess whether relationships existed between variables.

Correlations between weekday and weekend activity and gender were not found to be significant. Also, relationships between rule enforcement and activity were not found to be significant.

This study found a glaring gap in the literature that examines how parenting factors influence child sedentary behaviors in rural settings. Also, the statistical analysis revealed that parental rules have no associations with child sedentary activity, despite medium rates of enforcement.