The association between parental physical activity and the parent–child relationship in early childhood: the serial mediating roles of emotion regulation and subjective wellbeing
- 1School of Football Sports, Chengdu Sport University, Chengdu , ,
- 2School of Sport and Health Sciences, Sichuan Technology and Business University , ,
Abstract
Objective: The parent–child relationship in early childhood is closely linked to children's physical and psychological development. Although parental physical activity has been associated with favorable psychological outcomes, little is known about how it relates to the parent–child relationship or about the potential roles of emotion regulation and subjective wellbeing. Accordingly, this study used structural equation modeling to examine the hypothesized direct and indirect associations among these variables.
Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among 719 parents recruited through convenience and snowball sampling in six Chinese cities, including Chengdu, Suining, Meishan, Lanzhou, Xianyang, and Xi'an. All study variables were assessed by the same parent using the Physical Activity Rating Scale, the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Brief Subjective Wellbeing Scale for Chinese Citizens, and the Child-Parent Relationship Scale. Data were analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modeling in AMOS 23.0. Complementary PROCESS Model 6 analyses based on observed composite scores were conducted in SPSS 29.0.
Results: (1) Parental physical activity was positively associated with the parent–child relationship, and the direct path between the two variables was statistically significant (β = 0.143, p < 0.001). (2) The completely standardized indirect estimate through emotion regulation was 0.041 (95% CI [0.020, 0.065]), while the estimate through subjective wellbeing was 0.050 (95% CI [0.030, 0.074]). The serial indirect estimate was 0.015 (95% CI [0.008, 0.023]).
Conclusion: Higher levels of parental physical activity were associated with higher emotion regulation scores, greater subjective wellbeing, and a more positive parent–child relationship.
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BibTeX
@article{zhang2026association,
title = {{The association between parental physical activity and the parent–child relationship in early childhood: the serial mediating roles of emotion regulation and subjective wellbeing}},
author = {Xiaogang Zhang and Keyong Wang and Junmin Zhang and Shuiyou Hu and Jianqiang Tian},
journal = {Frontiers in psychology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1771516},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13719594},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The association between parental physical activity and the parent–child relationship in early childhood: the serial mediating roles of emotion regulation and subjective wellbeing
AU - Xiaogang Zhang
AU - Keyong Wang
AU - Junmin Zhang
AU - Shuiyou Hu
AU - Jianqiang Tian
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/16
JO - Frontiers in psychology
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1771516
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13719594
AB - Objective: The parent–child relationship in early childhood is closely linked to children's physical and psychological development. Although parental physical activity has been associated with favorable psychological outcomes, little is known about how it relates to the parent–child relationship or about the potential roles of emotion regulation and subjective wellbeing. Accordingly, this study used structural equation modeling to examine the hypothesized direct and indirect associations among these variables. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among 719 parents recruited through convenience and snowball sampling in six Chinese cities, including Chengdu, Suining, Meishan, Lanzhou, Xianyang, and Xi'an. All study variables were assessed by the same parent using the Physical Activity Rating Scale, the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Brief Subjective Wellbeing Scale for Chinese Citizens, and the Child-Parent Relationship Scale. Data were analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modeling in AMOS 23.0. Complementary PROCESS Model 6 analyses based on observed composite scores were conducted in SPSS 29.0. Results: (1) Parental physical activity was positively associated with the parent–child relationship, and the direct path between the two variables was statistically significant (β = 0.143, p < 0.001). (2) The completely standardized indirect estimate through emotion regulation was 0.041 (95% CI [0.020, 0.065]), while the estimate through subjective wellbeing was 0.050 (95% CI [0.030, 0.074]). The serial indirect estimate was 0.015 (95% CI [0.008, 0.023]). Conclusion: Higher levels of parental physical activity were associated with higher emotion regulation scores, greater subjective wellbeing, and a more positive parent–child relationship.
SN - 1664-1078
ER -