Associations of parental physical activity and physical fitness with motor competence, physical fitness, anthropometry, and 24-hour movement behaviors in preschool children: A cross-sectional study.

Whether parental physical activity (PA) and physical fitness (PF) are associated with preschoolers' motor competence (MC), fitness, and 24-h movement behaviors (MB) remains uncertain. We examined associations of parental moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and PF with children's anthropometry, MC, PF, and 24-h MB in mother-child and father-child pairs. In this cross-sectional study in public schools in Pamplona (Spain) and nearby municipalities, 161 children aged 4-6 years (80 girls), 90 mothers, and 81 fathers were assessed. Parental MVPA was measured using wrist-worn accelerometers; parental PF was assessed via upper- and lower-body strength, cardiorespiratory fitness, and body composition by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Exposures were categorized into tertiles. Child outcomes included anthropometry (fat mass, BMI z-score, waist circumference [WC]), MC (MOBAK-KG object-control [OC] and self-movement [SM]), PF (PREFIT: handgrip strength, 4×10-m shuttle run, standing long jump, and cardiorespiratory fitness), and 24-h MB (accelerometer-derived total PA, light PA, MVPA, sedentary time, and sleep across six consecutive days). Neither parental MVPA nor PF was significantly associated with children's anthropometry, MC, or PF in either dyad (all p > 0.05). However, maternal MVPA was inversely associated with child sleep duration (β = -0.59 h·night-1, 95% CI [-0.98, -0.20], p = 0.004). Conversely, higher maternal PF (moderate vs. low) was associated with a more favorable child MB profile, including greater sleep duration (β = 0.41 h·night-1, 95% CI [0.01, 0.81], p = 0.050), higher total PA (β = 60.70 min·day-1, 95% CI [18.85, 102.58], p = 0.006), higher light PA (β = 32.80 min·day-1, 95% CI [1.65, 64.02], p = 0.042), higher MVPA (β = 27.88 min·day-1, 95% CI [7.22, 48.55], p = 0.010), and lower sedentary time (β = -52.70 min·day-1, 95% CI [-102.48, -2.86], p = 0.042). For the father-child dyad, higher paternal MVPA was positively associated with child total PA (β = 44.10 min·day-1, 95% CI [1.62, 86.70], p = 0.045) and light PA (β = 37.77 min·day-1, 95% CI [6.82, 68.73], p = 0.019). These exploratory findings suggest that prioritizing child- and setting-level strategies has the potential to provide equitable, skill-rich movement opportunities, while parental engagement could be better fostered through facilitative routines rather than focusing solely on parental MVPA or fitness.