Correlates of physical activity at home in Mexican-American and Anglo-American preschool children.

Variables observed concurrently with physical activity, such as time spent outdoors and prompts to be active, were highly associated with children's physical activity.

Abstract

Twenty-two potential correlates of children's physical activity were examined. Two hundred and one Mexican-American and 146 Anglo-American families with 4-year-old children were studied. Children's physical activity was directly observed in the evening at home on 4 visits for 1 hr each time. Anglo-American children and male children were found to be more active. Demographic variables explained 11% of the variance in children's physical activity. After adjusting for demographics, 3 children's variables and 6 social-family variables did not account for significantly more variance. Five environmental variables accounted for 11% additional variance. Variables observed concurrently with physical activity, such as time spent outdoors and prompts to be active, were highly associated with children's physical activity.