The habits of life that parents establish in the family, influence the decisions that (about their health) young people make: this is the case with healthy eating, sports, a high level of communication between members, etc.
It seems logical but (in addition) in the case of physical activity, it has been recently verified by the University of La Rioja through a study. It is concluded that 'It is four times more likely that a teenager will be physically inactive when their parents have never participated in physical activities - sports in their spare time'. And on the contrary, when parents give physical exercise a special importance, it is observed less tendency to sedentary. The study has been published in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine and behaviors, attitudes and motivations are analyzed against physical sports practice during leisure time.
When the survey was conducted, 78.4 percent of young people exercised physical-sports activities in their spare time, 18.5 percent had stopped practicing them and 3.1 percent had never participated in activities of this type
To know this data, experts have chosen a sample of 1978 students between 12 and 16 years of school (randomly chosen) in the Autonomous Community of La Rioja.
The methodology has included quantitative and qualitative techniques, through the application of questionnaires, and discussion groups with parents, teachers and ESO students.
The team responsible for the study has detected that sometimes there is a perception by adolescents (and their teachers) that parents in their concern for academic results, they forget the importance of spending time doing physical exercise.
As a curious fact, it has come to my attention that 'it is three times more likely' that girls avoid physical and sports activities in their free time, compared to boys. It is probably an aspect that needs more thorough attention in future analyzes.
New studies will be able to expand the information on how family practices and trends in leisure time can influence the healthy physical / sports leisure of our children. For this, the University of La Rioja, is participating in a project together with six other Spanish Universities, whose financing is in charge of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.
So you know: everyone away from home to do some kind of physical activity in common ... while they are small, so that our children adopt this habit so healthy and necessary in their development. Opportunities are not lacking: hiking, a walk on the beach, an organized excursion, the ascent of a peak, participation in a climbing school organized by the town hall, enrollment in a family run, take the bike and go out all together, and all the examples you can think of.
