# Neighborhood and Parent Variables Affect Low-Income Preschool Age Child Physical Activity

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · 2020 · $115,500

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Physical activity (PA) in children can promote a healthy body weight and reduce cardiometabolic risk factors.
However, 58% of children aged 6-11 yrs do not meet the recommendation for 60 minutes of moderate-to-
vigorous PA per day. Both neighborhood characteristics20-28 and parent behaviors influence child PA
patterns. However, less is known about how these variables influence PA among low-income preschool
children. Parents play a more central role in supporting the PA of preschool-aged compared with older
children. Parent behaviors that support their child's PA are influenced by the resources and challenges in their
neighborhood environment. Potential important parent moderators of neighborhood effects on child PA
include parent perceptions of the neighborhood environment and parent behaviors that take advantage of
neighborhood resources that support their child's PA. The field can be advanced by identifying how the low-
income neighborhood environment and parent supportive behaviors interact to support preschool-aged child
PA. Interventions that target modifiable parent supportive behaviors are critical. However, interventions can be
effective only if key effective parent supportive behaviors are known. This requires prospective data collected
from both parent and child. Temporal associations between neighborhood environment, parent supportive
behaviors and preschool aged child PA have rarely been examined. The proposed research is a
secondary data analysis to examine longitudinal associations between low-income neighborhood variables,
parent supportive behaviors for child PA, and child PA. Data are from 534 low-income, ethnically/racially
diverse parent-child dyads that participated in a three-year community-based obesity prevention intervention.
Children were aged 2-4 years at baseline. Follow up retention rates were > 90% at 12, 24, and 36 months.
The proposed study will address a set of distinct scientific questions that are outside the scope of the parent
NET-Works study. The specific aims for the proposed research address the influence of low-income
neighborhood environments and parent supportive behaviors on changes in child PA. The potential role of
parent supportive behaviors as an intervention mediator of changes in child PA is examined.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9888417
- **Project number:** 5R21HL144559-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** SIMONE A. FRENCH
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $115,500
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-03-15 → 2022-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9888417

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9888417, Neighborhood and Parent Variables Affect Low-Income Preschool Age Child Physical Activity (5R21HL144559-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9888417. Licensed CC0.

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