Parental modelling and interpersonal support in relation to moderate physical activity and vigorous physical activity in 9–12-year-olds: A cross-sectional DEPASS study

<ns3:p>Background Moderate and vigorous physical activity (MPA and VPA) are both essential for child development and are influenced by both parental modelling and interpersonal support, yet most studies aggregate them into overall MVPA, potentially obscuring intensity-specific associations. Objective This cross-sectional study examined intensity-specific associations between parental modelling, parental support, peer support, and teacher support and objectively measured child MPA and VPA. Methods A total of 181 child–parent dyads from Belgium, Czechia, and Ireland were recruited between September 2023 and October 2024. Both children and their primary caregivers wore a hip-mounted ActiGraph wGT3X-BT accelerometer for eight consecutive days. Children and parents also completed validated Likert-scale questionnaires assessing interpersonal support and socioeconomic indicators. Associations between support variables and child PA outcomes were assessed using bivariate and partial correlations, controlling for confounders such as sex, country and socioeconomic status. Post-hoc analyses explored potential effects of extreme outliers (±2 SD from the mean). Results Parental MPA was moderately correlated with child MPA (r≈0.30), whereas correlations for VPA were weaker (r≈0.20). Peer and teacher support showed no significant associations with MPA and VPA in primary analyses, although peer support showed a very weak correlation with child VPA after removing outliers. Conclusions Parental modelling and co-participation were most strongly linked to children’s MPA, suggesting that family-based strategies may be more effective when targeting MPA. Peer support may have no role or a very limited one in VPA at this developmental stage, while teacher support showed no observable influence. These findings support the development of intensity-specific, multilevel interventions, but also highlight the need for longitudinal designs to clarify mechanisms and causality.</ns3:p>