The association between environmental and psychosocial factors towards physical activity and screen time of children: an application of the Integrative Behavioural Model

ABSTRACT

Physical activity is beneficial at all stages of life, and has been linked as a protective factor from obesity, and other chronic health conditions. Despite the benefits of physical activity, less than half of US children meet the current recommendations, and activity levels decline with age. When planning physical activity interventions, behavioural theories should be utilised, given the inherent benefits theory-based approaches possess. The purpose of this study was to investigate how constructs of the Integrative Theoretical Model (IM) are associated with physical activity and screen time among children (9 years ±1.2; n = 264). Using structural equation modeling, a final model proved to have a good fit (CFI = 0.989; TLI = 0.975; RMSEA = 0.043), and results indicated intentions and perceived behavioural control (PBC) explained 19.4% of the variance for physical activity, and attitudes, perceived norms, and PBC accounted for 62% of the variance of intentions. Furthermore, attitudes and perceived norms were negatively associated with total screen time, and accounted for 10% of the variance. Results suggest that IM is a useful framework for explaining physical activity and screen time among children.

KEYWORDS:

• Integrative model
• physical activity
• screen time

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.