Table 4.
Total, direct and indirect effects on children’s moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA)
| Independent variables: | Direct effect on children’s MVPA (in min/day) (c-path) | Indirect effect on children’s MVPA (mediated by parental physical activity behaviour) (in min/day) (ab-path) | Total effect on children’s MVPA (in min/day) | Size of the effect on children’s MVPAa |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics child | ||||
| Age child (youngest = ref.) | −30.1 | – | −30.1 | 0.66 |
| Sex child (m = ref.) | −21.9 | – | −21.9 | 0.40 |
| Overweight (no = ref.) | −5.5 | – | − 5.5 | 0.07 |
| Parental physical activity behaviour (PPAB) | – | 7.1 | 7.1 | 0.18 |
| Parental characteristics | ||||
| Age parent (youngest tertile = ref.) | −4.1 | 0.1*7.1 = 0.7 | −3.4 | 0.08 |
| Sex parent (m = ref.)) | 1.9 | −0.4*7.1. = −2.8 | − 0.9 | 0.03 |
| Overweight parent (no = ref.) | 7.1 | −0.6*7.1 = −-4.3 | 2.8 | 0.11 |
| Family characteristics | ||||
| Workload and siblings (factor 1) | 1.2 | 0.0*7.1 = 0.0 | 1.2 | 0.043 |
| Sociocultural family environment (nationality and education of the parents = factor 2) | −0.1 | −0.1*7.1. = − 0.7 | −0.8 | 0.01 |
| Co-activity (yes = ref.) | 0.2 | 0.2*7.1 = 1.4 | 1.6 | 0.00 |
| Parent-child relationship (lowest tertile = ref.) | 0.7 | 0.1*7.1 = 0.7 | 1.4 | 0.02 |
| Environment | ||||
| Walkability & Urbanity (factor 3) | 0.7 | 0.1*7.1. = 0.7 | 1.4 | 0.03 |
| Language (German = ref.) | −5.2 | −0.2*7.1 = −1.4 | 6.6 | 0.08 |
The total effect = indirect effect (via parental physical activity behavior) + direct effect.
The indirect effect is calculated by multiplying the association between the independent variable and parental physical activity behavior (a-path) with the association between parental physical activity behavior and children’s MVPA (b-path)
The direct effect describes the association between the independent variable and children’s MVPA adjusted for the parental physical activity behavior (see also Fig. 2)
MVPA = moderate to vigorous physical activity, PPAB = parental physical activity behavior
aDefined as square root of eta squared (i.e., the partial correlation between MVPA of the child and the respective variable, after adjustment for all other variables)