Psychology of Sport and Exercise 13 (2012) 10e18

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Psychology of Sport and Exercise

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/psychsport

Examining the relationship between family context and children’s physical

activity beliefs: The role of parenting style
Jay C. Kimiecik*, Thelma S. Horn
Department of Kinesiology and Health, Miami University, 106 Phillips Hall, Oxford, OH 45056, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Objectives: Previous research studies examining parental influences on children’s physical activity (PA)
Received 17 January 2011 have focused primarily on parents’ own PA behavior, as well as their PA-related beliefs and socially
Received in revised form supportive behaviors. The present study, although aligned with this mainstream parental influence
9 August 2011
research, was grounded in a broader child development perspective to examine the influence of
Accepted 24 August 2011
parenting style on children’s PA beliefs and quality of parentechild communication.
Available online 31 August 2011
Method: Self-report questionnaires were administered to 173 children ranging in age from 9 to 12 years
to assess their perceptions of parenting style, parentechild communication patterns, as well as their own
Keywords:
Family processes
perceptions of fitness competence, value, and goal orientation.
Physical activity Results: Children’s constellation of beliefs and attitudes regarding PA as well as their perceptions of the
Beliefs parentechild communication process did vary as a function of the type of parenting style they perceived
Communication their parents to use. High challenge parenting style was linked to higher perceived fitness competence
Parenting style and value on the part of the children. High support parenting style was linked to more positive perceived
parentechild communication patterns.
Conclusion: Parenting style may be a critical underlying family process variable that impacts children’s
development of a positive constellation of beliefs about PA. Future work is needed to link parenting style
and children’s PA beliefs to their PA behavior.
Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Children who participate in physical activity (PA) on a regular Research grounded in various expectancy-value models has shown
basis appear to reap many social (Strauss, Rodzilsky, Burack, & that children’s beliefs about themselves as well as their beliefs
Colin, 2001), psychological (Boyd & Hrycaiko, 1997), and physio- pertaining to PA are important contributors to children’s PA
logical (Baranowski et al., 1992) benefits. These benefits can be behaviors (Bois, Sarrazin, Brustad, Trouilloud, & Cury, 2005;
maintained, even enhanced, if children stay active as they move Dempsey, Kimiecik, & Horn, 1993; Eccles & Harold, 1991; Gao,
into adolescence and young adulthood (Taylor, Blair, Cummings, 2009; Kimiecik, Horn, & Shurin, 1996). Specifically, these studies
Wun, & Malina, 1999; Telama et al., 2005). The challenge from have demonstrated that how children feel about themselves, in
a public health perspective is that PA decreases significantly as combination with their beliefs about PA, are directly related to, and
children move into the adolescent years (Broderson, Steptoe, possibly predictive of, their PA behavior. In particular, three sets of
Boniface, & Wardle, 2007; Strauss et al., 2001) and continues to belief variables appear to be most relevant to children’s levels of
decrease as adolescents progress into young adulthood (Gordon- physical activity: achievement goal orientation, perceived compe-
Larsen, Nelson, & Popkin, 2004). For these reasons, many tence, and value.
researchers and scholars have directed their research work toward
a better understanding of the social and motivational factors that Children’s beliefs variables: links with physical activity
may underlie children’s PA.
Certainly, a complex web of social, psychological, cultural, and Achievement goal orientation refers to children’s notions or
environmental factors are important to the development and definitions of success in a specific context (e.g., classroom, sport,
maintenance of children’s PA levels (Lee, Sallis, & Biddle, 2010). fitness). Two types of goal orientation have been identified as
relevant to children’s PA participation (Kimiecik et al., 1996). Task
involvement emphasizes the process of performance (e.g., learning,
* Corresponding author. enjoyment, and mastery). Ego-involvement emphasizes the
E-mail address: [email protected] (J.C. Kimiecik). outcome of a behavior and focuses on social or peer comparison,

1469-0292/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2011.08.004
 J.C. Kimiecik, T.S. Horn / Psychology of Sport and Exercise 13 (2012) 10e18 11

outperforming others, and winning/losing. Various theories have influence model, suggest that both parental beliefs and their PA
been developed with goal orientation at the core to explain moti- levels are significantly linked to children’s beliefs and to children’s
vation and behavior in education and PA settings (see Harwood, levels of PA (e.g., Bois et al., 2005; Kimiecik & Horn, 1998; Kimiecik
Spray, & Keegan, 2008 for a review). In general, these theories et al., 1996). Of relevance to the current study are results of studies
indicate that individuals can vary in their levels of each goal examining parental influence on children’s achievement goal
orientation although task- and ego-involvement are typically orientation, perceived competence, and PA value.
studied as two distinct variables (Harwood et al., 2008). When that In regard to goal orientation, Kimiecik et al. (1996) found
is the case, children’s task involvement has been positively related a positive relationship between children’s perceptions of the
to their own PA participation (Dempsey et al., 1993; Kimiecik et al., degree to which their parents held a task-involved orientation for
1996), suggesting that a task-involved orientation provides more them and their own task orientation for fitness testing. Similarly,
opportunities for children to experience success and be motivated Dempsey et al. (1993) found that parents’ self-reported task
to continue to participate. orientation for their children’s PA was correlated with their chil-
Perceived competence refers to children’s perceptions of their dren’s own level of task orientation. In a sport context, Duda and
ability to perform activities successfully. This construct plays Hom (1993) found that children’s perceptions of their parents’
a central role in competence motivation theory (Harter, 1999) which goal orientationdnot parents’ own self-reported goal orientations
proposes that children will continue to participate in a particular for their childrendwere significantly related to their own goal
achievement activity if they feel competent. Studies within PA orientations. This latter study suggests that children’s perceptions of
contexts have demonstrated that children’s perceptions of their their parents’ beliefs may be most influential in forming their own
physical competence are significantly related to their PA behavior constellation of beliefs about PA.
(Bois et al., 2005; Dempsey et al., 1993; Kimiecik et al., 1996). A number of studies have demonstrated a link between parent
The construct of value refers to the importance of a task or and child perceptions of physical competence (Bois et al., 2005;
behavior to the individual and is one of the central constructs in the Dempsey et al., 1993; Kimiecik & Horn, 1998; Kimiecik et al.,
expectancy-value model developed by Eccles and her colleagues 1996). For example, in the longitudinal study conducted by Bois
(Eccles, 2005; Eccles, Wigfield, & Schiefele, 1998). Based on this and colleagues, mothers’ perceptions of their children’s sport
theory, children may perceive competence in a domain, but if they competence directly influenced children’s perceptions of their own
do not perceive value for that activity, they will participate less sport competence. In another longitudinal design, Fredricks and
frequently. Of course, Eccles and associates also note the impor- Eccles (2002) found that mothers’ and fathers’ beliefs regarding
tance of the larger sociocultural context in that children’s partici- their children’s sport competence, assessed in early elementary
pation in activities that they value and in which they perceive years, were positively related to children’s perceptions of their
competence may be limited or enabled by resources and oppor- sport competence in later school years.
tunities that are or are not available in their social milieu. In In terms of parental influence via perceived value of PA,
addition, Eccles (2005) proposes different dimensions of value: Fredricks and Eccles (2005) found a positive, significant, and
utility value (usefulness), intrinsic value (liking or enjoying), and predictive relationship among mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of
attainment value (importance of doing well). In some earlier work, the importance and usefulness of sport participation, their chil-
children’s perceived value was found to be unrelated to their dren’s perceptions of sport competence, and the value they placed
fitness-related PA behavior (Dempsey et al., 1993; Kimiecik et al., on their own sport participation. In work targeting fitness-related
1996). However, Eccles and Harold (1991) did find value to be PA, it was found that children’s perceptions of the degree to
significantly associated with children’s self-reported sport partici- which their parents valued physical fitness for them was signifi-
pation. In more recent work, task value has been found to predict cantly and positively correlated with children’s perceptions of their
task choice as well as persistence and engagement in sport and physical competence (Kimiecik et al., 1996). Eccles and Harold
physical education (Gao, Lodewyk, & Zhang, 2009; Xiang, McBride, (1991) also found this relationship in the sport context. In
& Bruene, 2004, 2006). another study, children whose parents placed value (importance
In summary, there is empirical data to support the notion that and utility) on their children’s participation in a running program
children’s level of PA is enhanced when they hold a positive were more likely to exert greater effort in the program and to attain
constellation of beliefs regarding PA and their participation in it. better scores on the mile run (Xiang et al., 2004).
Along with other scholars in the field, we have been interested in In general, then, the studies cited in the previous paragraphs
exploring how and why children may or may not develop such provide support for the simplified version (Fredricks & Eccles,
a positive collection of beliefs. One possible factor that researchers 2004) of Eccles’ (2005; Jacobs & Eccles, 2000; Wigfield et al.,
have been examining is the role that parents play (see recent 1997) model that suggests that parents’ beliefs pertaining to PA
review by Edwardson & Gorely, 2010). do impact their children’s own constellation of beliefs about PA as
well as, in some cases, the children’s actual PA behavior. But what is
Parental influences on children’s PA beliefs and behaviors the process by which these parentechild beliefs are developed and
transmitted? How do the beliefs about success, competence, and
Researchers examining the link between parents and their value pertaining to PA weave their way through the family context
children in the PA context typically have adopted various hybrids of and experience? How does a child come to emphasize task- and/or
a social-cognitive-behavioral model and thus have assessed a range ego-involvement in PA settings as a result of experiencing his or her
of parent, child, or parentechild beliefs pertaining to PA. Horn and unique family dynamics?
Horn (2007) reviewed this parentechild research using a simplified The present study was formulated on the basis that the answers
version (Fredricks & Eccles, 2004) of Eccles’ (2005; Eccles et al., to the above listed questions may begin to be found by investigating
1998) more complex model whereby parental value and beliefs the broader aspects of parenting. In essence, the assumption is that
determine the type of behaviors that parents exhibit toward and a “well-functioning family system” (Ornelas, Perreira, & Ayala,
with their child. These behaviors, in turn, affect the development of 2007, p. 8) is a key mechanism that impacts more behavior-
the child’s belief system that then influences the child’s behavior, specific beliefs and may expedite or impede the transference of
whether it pertains to academics, sports, or PA more broadly those beliefs between parents and their children. The idea of a well-
defined. In general, results from studies grounded in this parental functioning family system optimally impacting children’s health
12 J.C. Kimiecik, T.S. Horn / Psychology of Sport and Exercise 13 (2012) 10e18

and health behaviors is not new. Pratt (1976, p. 3) explored this idea A more recent study (Ornelas et al., 2007) measured adolescent
years ago with her concept of the energized family, a certain perceptions of parenting style as well as parentechild communica-
structural family pattern that “enables families to function effec- tion and parental engagement to examine their influence on their PA
tively in support of their members’ health.” This concept of family one year later. All three family-related variables positively predicted
systems or family processes, especially as those processes may PA for both boys and girls.
affect children’s PA beliefs is explored in the next section.
The present study
Family processes and children’s PA beliefs
The present study attempts to build on the previous research by
One way to more fully conceptualize the energized family concept investigating the possible link between parenting style, parente
as important to family members’ health and well-being is to draw child communication patterns, and the beliefs that children exhibit
from the child development literature that has focused on the family with regard to fitness-related PA. In particular, the primary goal of
structures or dynamics that optimize children’s experiences and life this exploratory research project was to determine if children from
engagement (Csikszentmihalyi & Rathunde, 1998; Rathunde, 2001). different types of family parenting styles would differ in their array
One of these areas is parenting style (see Csikszentmihalyi & of beliefs regarding PA and in their perceptions of the parentechild
Rathunde, 1998, for a more complete review), which refers to communication process. Based on the research on parenting style, it
a number of different kinds of approaches to parenting. Parents that was hypothesized that children from families that are high in both
foster a supportive family are seen by their children as warm and challenge and support would hold a more positive constellation of
helpful when learning new skills, and nonjudgmental. Parents beliefs about their participation in PA (e.g., higher perceptions of
creating a challenging family context are perceived by their children fitness competence, fitness value, and task goal orientation) than
as expecting them to take risks, developing plans for goal attain- would children from families that are low in one or both of the
ment, and encouraging the development of autonomy or individu- challenge and support dimensions. It was also hypothesized that
ation. Support appears to be linked to children’s openness to be children’s perceptions of the quality of the parentechild commu-
playful and spontaneous as their feelings of self-consciousness are nication process would be higher or more positive in families that
minimized, while challenge is associated with a child engaging in are high in both challenge and support. To investigate these issues,
purposeful and goal-directed states (Rathunde, Carroll, & Huang, self-report questionnaires were administered to a sample of chil-
2000). In essence, parents with a style that emphasizes both dren. The obtained data were used to classify families based on
support and challenge have children who report more optimal challenge and support and then to determine if and how the chil-
experience and interests in school and extra-curricular activities dren within these different types of families differ in their percep-
(Csikszentmihalyi & Rathunde, 1998). tions of their family communication processes and in their
Although few studies have examined the role of various constellation of beliefs regarding physical activity.
combinations of supportive and challenging parenting styles in To examine the hypothesized links, a purposive sample that
children’s PA, there is some indirect support for its impact on such included children between the ages of 9 and 12 years was selected.
health-related behaviors. For example, Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde, The rationale for this age range was based on two considerations.
and Whalen (1993) found that talented teens who perceived their First, these years represent the late childhood developmental
families to be high support and low challenge invested in more timeperiod, and previous research studies (Sallis, Prochaska, Taylor,
passive leisure (e.g., television viewing). Television viewing has Hill, & Geraci, 1999; Welk, Wood, & Morss, 2003) have revealed that
been documented as one of the leading obstacles to children’s PA parent behavior and beliefs may strongly influence the physical
participation (Anderson, Crespo, Bartlett, Cheskin, & Pratt, 1998). activity and beliefs of children within this age group. Second,
Another study, using family structure concepts such as balanced, research and theory from the competence motivation literature
traditional, disconnected, and emotionally strained, found that (see reviews by Horn, 2004; Weiss & Amorose, 2008) indicates that
both male and female parents who perceived their family as parents serve as a very important source of competence informa-
balanced demonstrated the strongest beliefs for providing family tion for children until the beginning of the adolescent years
support and rules for their children’s PA when compared to three (e.g., 13e14 years of age) when the influence of peers, teachers, and
other family types (Soubhi, Potvin, & Paradis, 2004). coaches may assume higher relevance. Based on this combination
Communication, which has a long history of inclusion within of research and theory, it was determined that the current study
work focused on the role of the family across the lifespan (see should focus on children who were in the late childhood years
Olson, 1993), is another area that may be impacted by parenting (9e12 years of age). Furthermore, the variables selected to repre-
style. For example, within the Circumplex Model (Olson, 1993), sent children’s physical activity beliefs were chosen based on goal
communication, which consists of empathy and attentive listening, orientation theory (e.g., Nicholls, 1989) and expectancy-value
appreciating the views of others, verbal clarity of thoughts, will- theory (e.g., Eccles, 2005). Thus, the set of variables included chil-
ingness to be open and disclose feelings about self, is considered dren’s perceptions of competence, achievement goal orientation,
a facilitating dimension for optimal family functioning. Typically, and value.
within the Circumplex Model, families considered to be balanced
(high in both cohesion and flexibility) tend to have very good Method
communication. Other research work (e.g., Rathunde, 1997) has
found that communication is enhanced in balanced families as Participants
these kinds of families are immersed in more group discussion.
It may be that effective family communication is an overlooked The participants for this study included 173 children (100 girls,
factor in the transmission of parent to child beliefs pertaining to PA 72 boys, 1 with gender unspecified) who were enrolled in grades
participation. For example, Pratt (1976, p. 90) found that an ener- four or five in an intermediate school that was located within
gized family, which was strongly linked to its members’ positive a large school district in the eastern part of the United States.
health practices, had a pattern of “regular, frequent, and varied forms The children ranged in age from 9 to 12 (M ¼ 9.97; SD ¼ .74) and
of interaction among all the members, specifically including fathere were primarily from European American lower middle to upper
child as well as motherechild and husbandewife interaction.” middle class families (Family Income: M ¼ $62,122; SD ¼ $24,364,
 J.C. Kimiecik, T.S. Horn / Psychology of Sport and Exercise 13 (2012) 10e18 13

Mdn ¼ $60,000; Mode ¼ $60,000). In terms of family structure, 90% body fat. An additional three items assess children’s overall
of the children in the participant sample reported that they lived perceptions of their fitness competence. Similar to Harter’s scale, the
within a two-parent home, while 9% lived in a single-parent home adapted version uses a structured alternative format with two
(mother or father only). The remaining 1% of the respondents did statements presenting different perspectives (e.g., “I have big
not provide information concerning their current family structure. muscles compared to other kids my age” OR “I do not have very big
muscles compared to other kids my age.”). For each pair of alternative
Procedure statements, children are required to choose which statement is most
like them and then indicate whether that statement is “really true for
Permission to conduct the study was granted by the school me” or “sort of true for me”. Thus, items are scored on a four-point
superintendent and building principal. Letters of information, scale with higher scores representing higher perceived fitness
along with parental consent forms, were sent to all parents of competence. Individual items are summed and divided by eight to
children in grades 4 and 5. Parents who granted permission for provide an overall estimate of children’s perceived fitness compe-
their child to participate returned the signed consent forms to tence. Resulting scores could range from one to four. The internal
classroom teachers. A teacher in the school district, trained by the consistency of the perceived fitness competence scale for this study
authors, administered the study questionnaires to children in small as assessed through the use of Cronbach’s a was .75.
groups in a classroom setting over a period of days. At the begin-
ning of each data collection session, the teacher verbally explained Perceived fitness value
to each group the concept of physical fitness so that all children Perceived value was assessed with respect to participating in
would understand its meaning. The teacher then read all the fitness-oriented physical activity. Following Eccles’ (2005) lead, the
questions to the children and provided assistance if necessary. The current study used a multidimensional perspective to assess chil-
study was conducted under approval received by an institutional dren’s perceptions of the value of fitness-oriented physical activity.
human subjects review board. Specifically, a three-item scale was used, with individual items
measuring utility value (usefulness), intrinsic value (liking), and
Instruments attainment value (importance). All items were responded to using
a 7-point scale. The item to measure utility asked the children to
Demographic questionnaire “please rate how useful it is for you to participate in activities to
Children responded to a series of questions to obtain demo- improve your physical fitness” (1 ¼ not at all useful, 7 ¼ very useful).
graphic information. Specific questions assessed the child’s age, To measure attainment value, children responded to the item:
birth date, grade, age and gender of siblings, and family structure. “please rate how important it is to you that you be high in physical
fitness” (1 ¼ not at all important, 7 ¼ very important). To assess
Fitness goal orientation intrinsic value children responded to the item: “please rate how
To assess children’s goal orientation, an adaptation of the Task and much you like to participate in fitness-oriented physical activities”
Ego Orientation in Sport (TEOSQ) (Duda, 1989) was used. The original (1 ¼ do not like at all, 7 ¼ like to participate a lot).
TEOSQ is comprised of 13 items that measure the respondents’
perceptions of what makes them feel successful within the Parentechild communication
competitive sport context. The 13 items can be categorized into either The child version of the ParenteAdolescent Communication
a task-involved goal orientation (sport success defined in terms of Scale (PACS; Barnes & Olson, 1995) was used to assess the child’s
task mastery, individual improvement) or an ego-involved goal perception of parentechild communication. The 20-item PACS
orientation (sport success defined in terms of peer comparison, includes two 10-item subscales, one measuring Open Family
performance outcomes). For the current study, a fitness-based Communication and the other tapping Problem Family Communi-
adaptation of the TEOSQ developed by Kimiecik et al. (1996) was cation. Open refers to the positive aspects of family communication,
used. This adapted TEOSQ describes a fitness testing situation focusing on understanding, empathy, and the freedom to express
(i.e., taking a school-based fitness test) and then asks children to one’s views. Problem pertains to negative aspects of family
indicate what would make them feel they had been successful in this communication, such as hesitancy to share, not being understood,
testing situation. Similar to the original TEOSQ, the fitness-based and negative styles of interaction (Barnes & Olson, 1995). Children
version includes six items to assess ego orientation (I would feel (when appropriate) responded to two separate 20-item question-
successful if “I performed better than my friends” or if “I got the naires, one for mother and one for father. Sample items include
highest score in the class”) and seven items to assess task orientation “I am very satisfied with how my father/mother and I talk together”
(I would feel successful if “I had improved a lot” or if “I worked really (Open) and “I don’t think I can tell my father/mother how I really feel
hard to get better”). A five-point Likert-type response format is used about some things” (Problem). Children indicated the degree to
with anchors ranging from “1” (Strongly Disagree) to “5” (Strongly which they agreed or disagreed with each statement by using a five-
Agree). A Cronbach’s a analysis conducted with the current study point Likert-type scale, with scale points ranging from “strongly
sample yielded coefficients of .87 for the ego subscale and .74 for the disagree” to “strongly agree”. Administration of both the mothere-
task subscale. child and fatherechild versions of the PACS resulted in four
subscales (each with 10 items that are averaged to create a subscale
Perceived fitness competence score), two for Problem communication with each parent and two
To measure children’s perceptions of their fitness competence, for Open communication with each parent. The internal consistency
a scale developed by Kimiecik et al. (1996) was used. This scale was of the four subscales from the PACS was assessed through use of
adapted from the physical competence subscale that is part of Cronbach’s a. The obtained coefficients were .77 for the childe
Harter’s (1982) Perceived Competence Scale for Children. This mother Problem subscale, .87 for the childemother Open subscale,
adapted scale includes eight items oriented specifically toward .76 for the childefather Problem subscale, and .91 for the childe
children’s competence in the physical fitness domain. Five of the father Open subscale. For the current study, children’s perceptions
items assess children’s perceptions of their competence in relation to of their communication patterns with their mothers and fathers
five components of health-related physical fitness: cardiovascular were found to be correlated (p < .00) at a moderate level (r ¼ .51 for
endurance, flexibility, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and open and .67 for problem communication patterns). Because
14 J.C. Kimiecik, T.S. Horn / Psychology of Sport and Exercise 13 (2012) 10e18

children’s perceptions of their family’s communication processes Table 1

were the primary focus for this study, an additional two subscale Descriptive data for all study variables (N ¼ 173 children).

scores were constructed. Specifically, the mothers’ and fathers’ Variable Mean SD Possible range Range
scores were averaged within family to create two family-based PerFitUse 6.07 1.10 1e7 2.00e7.00
subscale scores: problem parentechild communication and open PerFitImp 5.94 1.28 1e7 1.00e7.00
parentechild communication. PerFitLike 6.32 1.18 1e7 1.00e7.00
FitTaskOr 4.49 .48 1e5 2.43e5.00
FitEgoOr 3.55 .91 1e5 1.00e5.00
Perceived parenting style PerFitComp 3.12 .52 1e4 1.50e4.00
The Support/Challenge Questionnaire (SCQ; Rathunde et al., ProbParComm 2.72 .73 1e5 1.00e4.60
2000) was used to measure children’s perception of parenting OpenParComm 4.11 .69 1e5 1.00e5.00
style. The SCQ measures the dynamics or context of the family as FamChallenge 13.06 2.05 0e16 5.00e16.00
FamSupport 13.54 2.56 0e16 4.00e16.00
a whole, not individual parents as in the PACS. It is based on the
notion that wittingly or unwittingly parents are primarily respon- Note. PerFitUse ¼ perceived fitness usefulness; PerFitImp ¼ perceived fitness
importance; PerFitLike ¼ perceived liking for fitness; FitTaskOr ¼ fitness task goal
sible for setting the context of the family based on their styles and
orientation; FitEgoOr ¼ fitness ego goal orientation; PerFitComp ¼ perceived
that children have perceptions of support and challenge in the competence for fitness activities; ProbParComm ¼ perceived problem communica-
home environment (Rathunde, 2001). The perceived family support tion with parents; OpenParComm ¼ perceived open communication with parents;
and challenge scale is comprised of 32 itemsd16 assessing chal- FamChallenge ¼ perceived family challenge; FamSupport ¼ perceived family
lenge and 16 measuring support. Each item is responded to on support.
Note. Higher scores on all subscales indicate higher values for that variable.
a bipolar agree (Yes) or disagree (No) scale. For support items,
children either agreed or disagreed with statements such as, “No
matter what happens, I know I’ll be loved and accepted” or “We are deviation and range scores reveal that there was considerable
willing to help each other out when something needs to be done.” variation between children in their scores on all of the variables.
With regard to challenge, they agreed or disagreed with items like Screening procedures indicated that all data were normally
“It’s important to be self-confident and independent to earn distributed with the exception of the item representing children’s
respect” or “I’m expected to do my best.” Items are phrased in rating of how much they like fitness participation. This item
positive and negative ways. Construct validity has been supported exhibited significant negative skewness (2.10). Because this item
through previous work (see Rathunde, 2001). Sixteen of the items was part of a multidimensional scale selected to measure three
are summed to create one index of perceived family support, and dimensions of children’s perceptions of fitness value, it was deleted
the other 16 items are summed to measure perceived family chal- from further analysis. The remaining two items (fitness usefulness
lenge. Obtained a coefficients for these two subscales were .73 for and fitness importance) were retained for analysis.
the perceived family support subscale and .72 for perceived family
challenge. Preliminary results

Data analyses To determine whether children’s beliefs differed as a function of

their gender and/or their grade in school, a 2  2 (Gender by Grade
Descriptive statistics for all relevant study variables were Level) MANOVA was conducted. The dependent variables were the
computed and screened for linearity and normality. A preliminary two items representing children’s perceived value of fitness-
two-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted oriented PA (usefulness and importance), the two fitness goal
to determine if children’s beliefs differed as a function of their grade orientation subscale scores (task and ego), the perceived fitness
level and/or their gender. Additionally, univariate correlational competence score, the four parentechild communication subscales
analyses were used to assess the strength of the relationship between (mother and father open communication and mother and father
the variables representing children’s beliefs in order to determine problem communication), and the two parenting style subscale
whether multicollinearity existed within the data set. To assess the scores (challenge and support). The independent variables for this
primary study purpose, multivariate analyses of variance procedures analysis were child gender and grade (grades 4 and 5). The main
were used to determine whether children from different types of effects for Grade and Gender as well as the Gender by Grade
families (different parenting style) differed in their beliefs regarding interaction effect were all found to be non-significant. Due to this
fitness activities and parentechild communication patterns. lack of significant gender and grade effects, subsequent analyses
were conducted for the sample as a whole (i.e., collapsing across
Results grade and gender).
A series of univariate correlational analyses were also conducted
Descriptive results to determine if the variables to be used in the main study analyses
were significantly related to each other. The results of these anal-
Means, standard deviations, and range scores for all study yses (see Table 2) indicate that the scores representing children’s
variables are provided in Table 1. As these results indicate, this constellation of beliefs about fitness-oriented PA were all signifi-
sample of children, as a group, exhibited relatively high mean cantly correlated with each other at a low to moderate level. Thus,
scores on the positive constellation of beliefs regarding their PA and the more that these children valued PA (perceived importance and
fitness participation. That is, the mean scores for all three of the usefulness) the higher were their perceptions of their own fitness
fitness-related value items (usefulness, importance, liking) as well competence. Interestingly, children’s perceptions of fitness
as for the perceived fitness competence and both task and ego competence and fitness value were also positively associated with
fitness goal orientation scales were all higher than the midpoint of their scores on both task and ego fitness goal orientation. In addi-
their respective scales. Similarly, children’s scores on the family tion, the correlational results shown in Table 2 reveal positive
challenge and support subscales and on the open parentechild associations between children’s perceptions of the openness of
communication subscales were above the midpoint while the mean their communication with their parents and several of their PA
for the problem parentechild communication subscale was slightly beliefs (perceived fitness importance, task fitness goal orientation,
below the midpoint. However, examination of the standard and perceived fitness competence).
 J.C. Kimiecik, T.S. Horn / Psychology of Sport and Exercise 13 (2012) 10e18 15

Table 2 The results of the one-way MANOVA revealed a significant Box’s

Correlations for children’s PA belief and family communication variables. M test (p < .03), indicating that the covariance matrices of the
Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 dependent variables across the four family type groups were not
1. PerFitUse e equal. Therefore, the multivariate tests results were examined
2. PerFitImp .20** e using the Pillai Trace multivariate criterion. These statistics
3. FitTaskOr .45** .17* _ revealed a significant main effect for family type, Pillai’s V ¼ .37, F21,
4. FitEgoOr .22** .41** .30**
495 ¼ 3.33, p < .00, partial h ¼ .12, indicating that children from the
e 2
5. PerFitComp .36** .23** .27** .21** e
6. ProbParComm .06 .10 .00 .08 .14 e four types of families did differ significantly in their constellation of
7. OpenParComm .05 .15* .15* .03 .19* .53** e beliefs regarding fitness-related PA and family communication
Note. PerFitUse ¼ perceived fitness usefulness; PerFitImp ¼ perceived fitness
styles. Furthermore, the calculated h value of .35 indicates
importance; FitTaskOr ¼ fitness task goal orientation; FitEgoOr ¼ fitness ego goal a medium effect size (Cohen, 1988).
orientation; PerFitComp ¼ perceived competence for fitness activities; ProbPar- To identify which of the set of dependent variables was signif-
Comm ¼ perceived problem communication with parents; Open- icantly affected by family type, the parameter estimates and the
ParComm ¼ perceived open communication with parents.
univariate F-values were examined. These results revealed that the
*p < .05. **p < .01.
four groups of children differed on five of the seven dependent
variables (see Table 3 for group means and F-values). Specifically,
In general, then, the variables representing children’s beliefs they differed on perceived fitness usefulness, perceived fitness
about fitness-oriented PA and their family’s communication competence, fitness task orientation, childeparent problem
processes appear to be correlated with each other. However, given communication, and childeparent open communication. No
that the absolute value of the coefficients ranged from .00 to .53, significant group differences were found for perceived fitness
multicollinearity was not considered to be a problem. importance or fitness ego orientation. As the partial h2 values in the
second to the last column indicate, the effect sizes for the two
Main study analyses parentechild communication processes were the largest at .20
(problem) and .14 (open).
The primary purpose of the current study was to determine if To determine how the families differed from each other on each
children from different types of parenting style families (as of the dependent variables, post-hoc Scheffé means comparison
measured via the Support/Challenge Questionnaire) would them- testing was conducted. Obtained findings (see last column in
selves differ in their constellation of beliefs regarding fitness- Table 3) revealed that children from Groups 3 and 4 (families that
oriented PA and in their perceptions of the parentechild commu- were high in challenge) scored higher than did children from Group
nication within their family. This possible effect was assessed using 1 (families low in both challenge and support) on perceived fitness
MANOVA procedures. Specifically, based on the obtained parenting usefulness and perceived fitness competence. In addition, children
style scores (challenge and support), study participants were from the high challenge/high support families (Group 4) scored
separated (using a median split) into four different family type higher on task goal orientation than did children from low chal-
groups. Group 1 (n ¼ 57) included families who were low in both lenge/low support families (Group 1). In regard to parentechild
challenge and support. Group 2 (n ¼ 31) consisted of families who communication styles, children from the two high support families
were low in challenge and high in support while Group 3 families (Groups 2 and 4) scored significantly higher than the two low
(n ¼ 36) were high in challenge and low in support. Finally, those in support families (Groups 1 and 3) on perceived parentechild open
Group 4 (n ¼ 49) were high in both challenge and support. To communication. Correspondingly, the high family support groups
compare the children from these four types of families on their (2 and 4) scored significantly lower on perceived parentechild
collection of beliefs, a one-way MANOVA was conducted. The problem communication than did the children from the low chal-
dependent variables for this analysis included the two scores rep- lenge/low support families, and the high challenge/high support
resenting perceived value of fitness (usefulness and importance), children also scored lower on this problem communication variable
the two scores from the fitness goal orientation scale (task and ego), than did the high challenge/low support (Group 3) children.
the single score from the perceived fitness competence scale, and
two scores from the parentechild communication scale (paren- Discussion
techild problem and parentechild open communication). As noted
earlier in the Method section, the latter two scores (parentechild The present study explored possible links between parenting
problem and parentechild open communication) were computed style and parentechild communication as well as with children’s
by averaging across the mothers’ and fathers’ scores to create constellation of beliefs pertaining to fitness-oriented PA. Following
family-based communication subscale scores. This combined score the models of Eccles’ (2005; Fredricks & Eccles, 2004) and Horn and
was used in the main study analyses because the primary focus in Horn (2007), this study attempted to broaden the scope of more
this research project was on family processes.1 traditional work that has examined the relationship among parent
beliefs and parent PA behavior, children’s PA beliefs, and children’s
PA behavior. The main idea underlying this study is that the family
1
Although the PACS (ParenteAdolescent Communication Scale) yields four context, in this case operationalized as the style of parenting, could
subscales to represent children’s perceptions of their problem and open commu- be a significant factor in influencing PA beliefs, how those beliefs
nication levels with their mothers and fathers separately, the current study are communicated, and then, ultimately, the frequency of children’s
combined the mothers’ and fathers’ subscale scores to create two family-based
participation and enjoyment of PA. This is the first study of which
variables: parentechild open and problem communication. The rationale for
using the two combined subscales is that this study focuses on family processes. we are aware that has explored the connections between parenting
Nevertheless, the main study analysis (one-way MANOVA) comparing the four style and children’s beliefs pertaining to PA.
types of families on children’s perceptions and attitudes was also conducted using An overview of the major findings indicates that parenting style
the four separate mother and father subscales rather than the two combined parent was significantly related to both children’s beliefs about PA and
communication scores. Identical results were obtained. That is, the mothers’ and
fathers’ open and problem communication scores exhibited the same differences
children’s perceptions of the quality of communication with their
across the family types as did the combined parentechild communication scores. parents. In addition, correlational analyses indicate a significant
Thus, only the results using the combined subscales were reported. link between children’s perception of the openness of their
16 J.C. Kimiecik, T.S. Horn / Psychology of Sport and Exercise 13 (2012) 10e18

Table 3
Follow-up family type comparisons.

Dependent FamType 1 (low chall/ FamType 2 (low chall/ FamType 3 (high chall/ FamType 4 (high chall/ Univ F-value h2 Post-hoc means
variable low supp) (n ¼ 57) high supp) (n ¼ 31) low supp) (n ¼ 36) high supp) (n ¼ 49) (df ¼ 3, 169) comparison results
PerFitUse 5.70 (1.25) 6.19 (1.11) 6.29 (.92) 6.29 (.91) 3.36* .06 3,4 > 1
PerFitImp 5.79 (1.29) 5.74 (1.61) 6.14 (1.10) 6.10 (1.12) 1.07 .02
PerFitComp 2.94 (.59) 3.14 (.51) 3.28 (.42) 3.27 (.48) 3.87** .06 3,4 > 1
FitTaskOr 4.34 (.49) 4.51 (.54) 4.55 (.41) 4.61 (.46) 3.14* .05 4>1
FitEgoOr 3.31 (.89) 3.73 (.97) 3.53 (.88) 3.74 (.89) 2.42 .04
ProbParCom 3.06 (.62) 2.63 (.63) 2.89 (.73) 2.27 (.66) 13.89** .20 1 > 2,4
3>4
OpenParCom 3.83 (.74) 4.33 (.52) 3.88 (.71) 4.42 (.55) 9.23** .14 2,4 > 1,3

*p < .05. ** p< .01.

communication with their parents and their PA beliefs. The ensuing parents are creating a climate whereby a child can engage in
discussion will focus on the importance of these relationships for purposeful and goal-directed experiences without feeling self-
children’s participation in PA and some practical implications for conscious. In this kind of environment, whatever activity children
future work in this area. undertake they are likely to perceive success on their terms, which
The findings do suggest a potential link between parenting style builds competence (Csikszentmihalyi & Rathunde, 1993).
and children’s PA-related beliefs as significant differences emerged Rathunde’s (2001) challenge is similar to Pomerantz, Grolnick, and
among varying parenting styles. Similar to styles of parenting Price’s (2005) autonomy-supportive parenting style, which has
research in other contexts (e.g., academic), the high support/high been linked to children’s higher perceptions of competence and
challenge style, which is similar to Baumrind’s (1989) “authorita- higher levels of intrinsic motivation in achievement domains. Since
tive,” has some advantages pertaining to children’s PA. Specifically, the high challenge/high support family is strongly linked to task
children who perceived a high support/high challenge parenting goal orientation and perceived competence, this type of family is
style had a significantly stronger fitness task goal orientation than creating an environment that enables children to make strong
children who perceived a low support/low challenge family envi- connections between task involvement and perceived competence
ronment. Children’s definitions of success as mastery and learning pertaining to their PA experiences. Previous work in PA settings has
(task orientation) have been linked to their fitness-oriented PA in demonstrated a moderate to strong connection between children’s
previous work (Dempsey et al., 1993; Kimiecik et al., 1996). Being task orientation and perceived competence and effort (Duda &
task oriented towards physical activity seems to have many positive Nicholls, 1992; Seifriz, Duda, & Chi, 1992). Children’s self-percep-
motivational and performance-related consequences (Harwood tions of being competent and task oriented combined with their
et al., 2008; Kimiecik, 2002). But little work has focused on how belief that fitness-oriented PA is useful in their lives provides them
children develop this task orientation in physical activity contexts. with a very positive array of PA-related beliefs that may be a natural
It may be that the broader family system has much to do with outcome of living within high support/high challenge families.
this process. For example, Rathunde (2001) has shown that chil- According to the Eccles et al. parental socialization model (Eccles,
dren in high support/high challenge families, when compared to 2005), a child’s behavior is predicted by both self-perceptions
other family types, spend the greatest amount of time in what he (e.g., competence) pertaining to the activity and the value attrib-
calls a state of “undivided interest,” whereby they have both posi- uted to that activity. The results of this study support the idea that
tive mood and a clear focus on the activity itself. This state perceived family type may influence a child’s development of both
enhances the quality of their experience, sometimes called flow components of that model.
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1997). In essence, high support/high challenge Communication between parent and child has been recognized
types of family environments may best facilitate or coordinate as a relevant factor within PA contexts (Ornelas et al., 2007). In most
adolescent attention. One aspect of this attentional ability as it cases, parentechild communication has been studied as parental
relates to children’s PA may be the development and adoption of encouragement for their children to participate in PA or as parental
a task goal orientation. Children who perceive their parents as feedback given in response to their children’s PA performances
warm and affectionate, nonjudgmental, and helpful when learning (Beets, Cardinal, & Alderman, 2010; Horn & Horn, 2007). In general,
new skills (support) as well as encouraging self-directed behavior varieties of PA-specific communication processes, such as encour-
and individualized goal achievement (challenge) are optimally agement, praise, and bonding do influence children’s PA partici-
set to develop a task orientation, which as indicated, provides pation (Dzewaltowski, Ryan, & Rosenkranz, 2008; Ornelas et al.,
greater opportunities for focused engagement in a behavior such as 2007; Trost et al., 2003). Based on these findings, recommenda-
PA. When the quality of the experience is high, children or tions are made that parents need to be more supportive, give more
adults are motivated to continually participate in that behavior praise, better feedback, etc. In addition, studies show that children
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1997). This motivational orientation towards PA want more communication with their parents, particularly in the
would seem crucial to develop at an early age within the family so area of encouragement (e.g., Ries, Voorhees, Gittelsohn, Roche, &
that as children progress to adolescents to young adulthood they Astone, 2008).
are more likely to self-regulate their own PA participation. The researchers in this study were particularly interested in the
The post-hoc means comparison among groups also indicates family dynamics that might optimize the quantity and quality of
the importance of the challenge component of parenting style communication between parent and child. The results demon-
relative to children’s beliefs about fitness competence and PA strated that children who perceived high challenge/high support
usefulness. Children who perceived high challenge as part of their within their families also scored lower in the area of problem
daily family life (with or without the accompanying support) had communication than did children in low support/low challenge
higher perceptions of competence and usefulness regarding PA families. Correspondingly, children in high support families
than children who perceived low challenge in their families. Again, perceived more open communication with their parents than did
the challenge aspect of a family context refers to the idea that children in low support families. These findings suggest that
 J.C. Kimiecik, T.S. Horn / Psychology of Sport and Exercise 13 (2012) 10e18 17

parenting style is a significant factor in influencing the communi- behavior, it is recommended that future research studies employ
cation process between parent and child, whether it pertains to PA a more psychometrically valid scale to assess all aspects of
or schoolwork. The support dimension, characterized by warmth perceived value.
and sensitivity, seems particularly relevant here as it links to
parentechild communication. Other studies have shown a direct Conclusion
relationship between parent warmth and sensitivity and children’s
health behaviors (e.g., Arredondo et al., 2006; Berge, Wall, Loth, & These findings suggest that parenting style may be a critical
Neumark-Sztainer, 2010; Ornelas et al., 2007; Schmitz et al., underlying family process impacting the development of a constel-
2002). It may be that communication moderates this parenting lation of children’s PA beliefs, such as value, competence, and task
style-health behavior link and future work should further examine goal orientation. Parenting style was also linked with children’s
these relationships, especially in light of the fact that open perceptions of the quality of communication with their parents. This
communication was significantly correlated with children’s relationship could have significant effects on children’s motivation
perceived value of PA as well as task orientation and competence. for PA as well as both short- and long-term PA participation. Low
The current study results suggest that parenting style may support/low challenge families may create a stressful environment
significantly influence the communication process within families. exemplified by low quality communication leading to unhealthy
These results could have potential practical significance in that any behaviors and overweight, whereas high support/high challenge
intervention attempting to enhance parental behaviors and families may establish an optimal energy source that frees families to
communication to help their children be more physically active discuss and guide their children into performing positive healthy
could be limited without addressing parenting style. Helping parents behaviors. Future work should examine the potential for this ener-
create a family environment that is both supportive and challenging gized or well-functioning family system, characterized by high
for their children could go a long way to developing their interest in support/high challenge, for developing children that approach and
and motivation for PA participation through enhanced quantity and enjoy regular physical activity participation.
quality of communication. As Csikszentmihalyi and Rathunde (1998,
pp. 668e669) suggest, active support and challenge on the part of
Acknowledgement
parents creates opportunities for guided participation whereby they
“bolster children’s attempts to master skills, and challenge to move
The authors would like to thank Sandy Kimiecik, EdD, for col-
children toward higher levels of mastery.” Future work could
lecting the data for this project and Eric Martin and John Lisec for
examine if, in fact, this parenting style can be developed via inter-
assistance with data management. This research was funded by
vention and, if so, its subsequent effect on children’s PA beliefs and
a grant to the first author from the Committee of Faculty Research
behavior. For example, can low support/low challenge family
at Miami University.
systems be changed to high support/high challenge, and does that
change create healthier living?
This study had several limitations that warrant caution when References
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