The Mediating Effect of a Mother's Permission for Risk-Taking Play in the Effect of a Young Children's Physical Activity Attitude on the Amount of Physical Activity

Objectives The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating effect of mothers' permission for risky play in the effect of children's physical activity attitudes on the amount of physical activity. Methods The subjects of this study were 270 children aged 3, 4, and 5 attending daycare centers and kindergartens in Gyeonggi-do and Chungcheongnam-do and their mothers. A questionnaire was used to conduct a survey. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS WIN 25.0 program, frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and Process macro 4.0 model 4 to examine the mediating effect. Results The results of this study are as follows: First, the better the physical activity attitude of infants, the higher the amount of physical activity of infants and the mother's permission for risky play. The higher the mother's permission for risky play, the higher the amount of physical activity of infants. Second, the physical activity attitude of infants was found to have a positive effect on the amount of physical activity. In this process, the permission for risky play of mothers was found to have a mediating effect that increased the positive influence on the amount of physical activity of infants. This means that the permission for risky play of mothers increases the amount of physical activity of infants. Conclusions Through this study, it was confirmed that the physical activity attitude of infants, the permission for risky play of mothers, and the amount of physical activity of infants were interrelated, and the physical activity attitude of infants was found to be a variable that significantly predicted the amount of physical activity of infants. In addition, it was confirmed that the permission for risky play of mothers acted as a variable that could increase the amount of physical activity of infants in the process in which the physical activity attitude of infants affected the amount of physical activity of infants. These results show that the permission for risky play of mothers plays an important role in increasing the amount of physical activity of infants. This suggests that efforts are needed to improve positive perceptions of mothers' acceptance of risky play.