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Do individual cognitions mediate the association of socio-cultural and physical environmental factors with adolescent sports participation?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2010

Klazine van der Horst*
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands ETH Zurich, Institute for Environmental Decisions (IED), Consumer Behavior, Universitaetstrasse 22, CHN H75.3, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Anke Oenema
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Saskia J te Velde
Affiliation:
EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Johannes Brug
Affiliation:
EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
*
*Corresponding author: Email kvanderhorst@ethz.ch
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Abstract

Objective

To examine the associations of perceived physical environmental factors (availability of physical activity (PA) attributes at home, PA facilities in the neighbourhood, neighbourhood pleasantness and safety) and social environmental factors (parental sports behaviour and parental rule regarding sports participation) with adolescent leisure-time sports participation, and to explore whether the associations found were mediated by individual cognitions as derived from the theory of planned behaviour (TPB).

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

In schoolyear 2005/2006 adolescents from seventeen schools in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, completed a questionnaire during school hours that included self-reported measures of leisure-time sports participation, perceived physical environmental factors and TPB variables. Information about parental sports behaviour and parental rule was obtained from a questionnaire that was completed by one parent of the adolescents.

Subjects

Data were collected from 584 adolescent–parent combinations.

Results

Data were analysed with multi-level logistic regression analyses. Availability of PA attributes at home (OR = 1·26), parents’ sports behaviour (OR = 2·03) and parental rule (OR = 1·64) were associated with a higher likelihood of adolescents’ leisure-time sports participation. These associations were partly mediated by attitude and intention.

Conclusions

Adolescents were more likely to engage in leisure-time sports when PA attributes were available at home, when parents participated in sports activities and had a rule about their offspring participation in sports activities. These associations were partly mediated by attitude and intention. These results suggest that parents can importantly promote sports participation among their offspring by making sports activities accessible and a family routine.

Figure 0

Fig. 1 Conceptual model of the direct and indirect association of physical and socio-cultural environmental factors (PA, physical activity; TPB, theory of planned behaviour)

Figure 1

Table 1 Behavioural, demographic, cognitive and environmental characteristics of the ENDORSE study population (n 584)

Figure 2

Table 2 Results of multivariate linear regression analyses (unstandardized regression coefficients) of physical and social environmental variables with TPB variables as dependent variables, adjusted for age, gender, ethnicity, school type and clustering within classes and schools

Figure 3

Table 3 Results of multivariate logistic regression analysis (OR) examining the association between potential mediators (TPB variables) and leisure-time sports participation (≥30 min), adjusting for the physical (Model 1) and social (Model 2) environmental factors†

Figure 4

Table 4 Results of logistic regression analyses to examine the mediation of the association between physical environmental factors with leisure-time sports participation (≥30 min) by attitude (Model 2) and intention (Model 3)†

Figure 5

Table 5 Results of logistic regression analyses to examine the mediation of the association between social environmental factors with leisure-time sports participation (≥30 min) by attitude (Model 2) and intention (Model 3)†