Abstract
A large proportion of Canadian children fail to acquire recommended levels of physical activity per day. Therefore it is important for researchers to understand the factors that determine whether children are active or not. Purpose: To explore sociodemographic variables that discriminate between high and low active children as measured by pedometers. Methods: Between April 2009 and February 2011, 421 children aged 6 to 10 years-old and one of their parents wore SC-T2 pedometers for four consecutive days. High and low activity levels of the children were determined via a median split. Children's height and weight were directly measured, and parent's height, weight and demographic information were self-reported. The dependent variables included: child age and sex, parent and child body mass index, average parent steps as well as parent education, household income and season. A discriminant function analysis was used to determine whether the above mentioned variables contributed to group separation of high and low active children. Results: Wilks' Lambda was significant, ?2(7) = 37.15, p < .001, with parent steps, season, and sex contributing to group separation. Conclusion: These findings suggest that parental modeling of physical activity, season and sex are key factors in determining whether children are active or not and thus should be taken into consideration when developing interventions and public health initiatives.Acknowledgments: This research was funded by the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR)