Research Snapshot: Parenting Practices Discouraging Physical Activity among South Asian British Children
This story is part of IPHAM’s Research Snapshot series, which aims to condense cutting-edge research into a quickly digestible format. For more information, please see the source article.
By Andrew Nellis —Sept 14, 2023
New research suggests that South Asian parents living in the United Kingdom (UK) more frequently engage in parenting practices that restrict child physical activity, compared to White parents, which may be critical in addressing the high risk of physical inactivity and associated health conditions, such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure faced by people of South Asian background.
The Big Picture
People of South Asian background have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure compared to White and other Asian groups.
Physical activity effectively reduces cardiometabolic risks; however, South Asian immigrants living in the UK participate in less physical activity than their white counterparts.
Studies have identified barriers to physical activity among South Asian children living in the UK, such as limited time, parental support, and cultural barriers. However, researchers wanted to better understand how large of a role South Asian parents played in encouraging children to engage in physical activity.
Regardless of your background, it’s critical that kids engage in physical activity from a young age.”
How the study was done
Researchers analyzed survey data collected from mothers with toddler-aged children who participated in the Born in Bradford 1000 study.
The study sample included three groups of 1,149 mothers: 458 foreign-born South Asian British, 276 UK-born South Asian British, and 455 white British.
Mothers completed a survey about parenting practices, which included questions about physical activity supports and restrictions for their children aged 24 to 36 months.
The Results
The foreign-born South Asian British parents reported the lowest frequencies of physical activity-supportive parenting practices (e.g., verbal encouragement; logistic support) and the highest frequencies of physical activity-restrictive parenting practices (e.g., restricting physical activity due to the weather, injury concern, etc.), followed by UK-born South Asian British parents and White British parents.
Other findings:
- More frequent exposure to TV at mealtimes occurred among South Asian British children than white British children.
- While gender norms may be a factor at older age, the team found no difference in physical activity parenting practices by child sex for South Asian British, which may in part be due to the children’s young age.
- Transportation challenges, as well as weather and injury concerns (i.e., “scared that my child gets hurt”), were common reasons for restrictive physical activity parenting practices among foreign-born South Asian British parents.
What’s next?
Future research should examine whether physical activity parenting practice interventions among South Asian immigrant parents can address in disparities in physical inactivity South Asian children.
Thoughts from the authors
“Regardless of your background, it’s critical that kids engage in physical activity from a young age,” said Soyang Kwon, PhD, research associate professor of Pediatrics, member of IPHAM, and lead author on the study. “To reduce physical activity disparities among South Asian children, an educational intervention for culturally appropriate positive physical activity parenting practices should be implemented among South Asian immigrant families with young children.”
Other authors of the paper include Namratha R Kandula, MD, MPH, and Nilay S Shah, MD, MPH.