THE EFFECT OF PARENTAL SUPPORT ON CHILDREN’S PHYSICAL ACTIVITY LEVELS DURING THE PANDEMIC

Abstract

As part of the struggle against the pandemic, the restrictions that applied to an important population group including children, are important in terms of reducing the transmission rate of the virus. However, it is also known that being in closed areas for a long time causes a serious decrease in physical activity levels, especially for growing children. At this point, it is considered as an important tool for the parents to guide their child to the activity and to support the child to do the activity. This study was developed within the scope of a widespread TUBITAK project, which examines many variables that affect the changes in children's physical activity levels during the pandemic period. In this study, the effect of parental support on children's physical activities before, during, and after the restrictions was measured. In this study, an online questionnaire was applied to 1559 parents who had children that were educated in public primary schools in Karşıyaka district of İzmir province during the pandemic period. The results showed that there was a decrease in the physical activity levels of the children compared to before the restrictions, in which case the parent's support for the child was effective. This includes clues about the need to increase the parents’ willingness to direct the child to activity after restrictions in order to increase the level of physical activity of the child. In future studies, it is expected to contribute to the relevant literature by trying to determine the reasons for the decrease in the activity level of the child during the pandemic period and the factors that are effective in parental support.