School Performance, Lack of Facilities, and Safety Concerns: Barriers to Parents' Support of Their Children's Physical Activity

Purpose. To identify barriers to parents support of their children's physical activity (PA) and to develop a survey to assess such barriers. Methods. Eighty-two Parents (40 white; 36 African-American; 6 other) of elementary school-aged children participated in small-group interviews. Parents reported. barriers to supporting their children's PA and suggested possible solutions. This information was used to develop the Barriers to Activity Support, Scale (BASS), which was completed by 75 of the 82 patents along with a survey that assessed. the parents' support for their childrens PA. Results. Parents reported community-based, interpersonal, and intrapersonal barriers to supporting their children's PA. Top barriers included. the importance of children's school performance, a lark of facilities, and, concerns about safety. Parents who reported greater barriers reported lower support for their children's PA Discussion. Results provide preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of the BASS and highlight the need to address barriers during the development of family-based, PA programs. (Am J Health Promot 2009;23[5];315-319.)