Bridging the intention-behavior gap: The role of action planning in parental support for physical activity in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.
A short action plan turns parents’ good intentions into real exercise support for youth with autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked parents of kids and teens with autism how they think about exercise support.
Parents filled out a survey on intention, action planning, and real-life help they give.
Researchers then linked these answers to how much exercise the youth actually got.
What they found
Good intentions alone did not get kids moving.
Parents who wrote down when, where, and how they would help followed through more often.
Only 18 percent of youth with autism met the WHO exercise guideline.
How this fits with other research
Sansi et al. (2021) ran an inclusive school jogging program that boosted both motor and social skills. Their work extends our paper by showing one clear plan schools can use once parents decide to act.
Tse (2020) also used jogging and saw better emotion control after twelve weeks. Together the three studies form a chain: parent plan → child activity → child gains.
Kirby (2016) found parent expectations shape adult outcomes for youth with autism. Our paper mirrors that idea, but swaps expectation for action planning in the smaller world of exercise.
Why it matters
You can close the gap between what parents say and what they do. Add a five-minute planning step to parent training. Ask them to pick days, times, and places they will encourage movement. This tiny sheet of paper may be the bridge that gets kids with autism to the playground.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Parental support constitutes a critical determinant of physical activity (PA) engagement in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet its predictors remain understudied. Grounded in an extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) framework, this study examines the sequential relationships between parental support intention, parental action planning, parental support, and PA in this population. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 164 parents/caregivers of children and adolescents with ASD in China. The parents/caregivers completed a survey form measuring key TPB constructs of interest. RESULTS: Only 18.3 % of children and adolescents with ASD met the WHO's recommended guideline of at least 60 min of daily PA. Path analysis revealed that parental support intentions directly predicted parental action planning (β = 0.52) and parental support (β = 0.34), while action planning mediated the intention-behavior relationship. Further, parental support mediated the intention-PA association (β = 0.41) and served as the critical pathway linking intention to children's PA through a chain mediation model (support intention → action planning → parental support → PA). CONCLUSION: The extended TPB model elucidates the mechanisms underlying parental support for children and adolescents with ASD. These findings underscore the necessity to strengthen parental intentions, develop actionable plans, and implement integrated support strategies for promoting PA in this population.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2025 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2025.105161