Author and graduation date: Wendy R. HOEFER, May, 1998

Committee members: Thomas L. McKenzie (Chair), Larry S. Verity, James F. Sallis

Thesis title: Association Between Parent Provision of Transportation and Adolescent Physical Activity

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate parent provision of transportation as a determinant of physical activity in adolescents. A secondary purpose was to assess the effects of other family variables including ethnicity, gender, age, child's use of physical activity locations and/or facilities, number of parents in the household, and parent level of education on the physical activity participation of adolescents. Baseline data, collected as part of a four-year intervention study targeting physical activity and nutrition (M-SPAN, Middle School Physical Activity and Nutrition), were used in this study. Students (M age = 13.0, SD = 0.9; 712 boys, 966 girls) representing a multi-ethnic population from 24 Southern California middle schools (grades 6-8) and their parents each completed self-administered surveys about students' physical activity and eating patterns. A total of 1678 pairs of student and parent surveys were collected and used in analyses, with an overall survey response rate of 72%. Significant differences in parent provision of transportation were found for household education (p = .001), ethnicity (p = .002), and gender (p = .03). Because no significant ethnic differences in adolescent activity level were found, ethnicity was not included in the regression models. Results of separate, gender specific, hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed parent provision of transportation to significantly contribute to girls' total MET-hours per week of physical activity (p = .001) and to girls' participation in sports and/or activity lessons in the past year (p = .001). For boys, parent provision of transportation was a marginally significant contributor (p = .06) to total MET-hours per week, and was a significant contributor (p = .04), in an overall nonsignificant model, to participation in sports/activity lessons during the past year. Demographics accounted for a significant amount of the total variance in girls' total MET-hours per week (p = .02), but was nonsignificant in the other regressions. Child's use of physical activity locations/facilities significantly contributed to boys' (p = .008) and girls' (p = .004) total MET-hours per week, but did not explain a significant amount of the total variance in adolescent participation in sports/activity lessons during the past year. These findings suggest parent provision of transportation, as a means of accessing facilities, is a factor which significantly influences out-of-school adolescent physical activity in an ethnically diverse population.

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