The importance of parental beliefs and support for pedometer-measured physical activity on school days and weekend days among Canadian children

Table 1 Characteristics of grade five students participating in the study

	Mean ± SD/Prevalence
	Girls (n = 717)	Boys (n = 638)
Age	10.9 ± 0.4	10.9 ± 0.4
BMI of child^*	19.1 ± 3.5	19.7 ± 4.4
Overweight (%)^*	29.2	34.6
Obese (%)^*	7.5	10.8
Physical activity¹
School day^*	12,000 ± 3,366	13,844 ± 4,424
Non-school day^*	10,914 ± 5,645	12,716 ± 7,488
Parent cares about staying fit and exercising
A little bit	21.7	19.1
Quite a lot	43.4	45.9
Very much	34.9	35.0
Parent encourages their child to be physical activity
A little bit	13.6	11.3
Quite a lot	44.1	38.9
Very much	42.4	49.8
Parent engages in physical activity with their child^*
<1 time/week	40.3	38.8
1–3 times/week	49.0	50.5
≥4 times/week	10.7	10.7
Parental education attainment
Secondary or less	26.7	22.4
College	42.0	40.5
University and graduate	31.3	37.1
Household income ($)
<50,000	21.5	19.2
50,001–75,000	15.9	14.3
75,001–100,000	17.4	17.3
>100,001	45.3	49.3

¹– pedometer-measured steps adjusted for non-ambulatory activities, non-wear time activities, and missing data.
^*– considered statistically significant at P < 0.05.

ISSN: 1471-2458