Expert says children often don't tell the truth about how much they exercise, watch TV

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By MARC HUDON
Times & Transcript Staff

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OTTAWA - Sometimes mother and father do know best when assessing the frequency in which their children exercise, the number of hours spent watching television, and how sedentary habits affect children's health, according to a Statistics Canada study released yesterday.

The study found that parents and children often differ in their perception of children's activity levels.

Children who report more time exercising and fewer hours of TV watching than the amount perceived by their parents were more likely to be obese than children whose accounts agreed with those of their parents, the study suggests.

Children who are overweight or obese are already suffering from a negative stigma about their physical inactivity and may feel compelled to give an answer that isn't truthful, said Gabriela Tymowski, a kinesiologist at the University of New Brunswick and expert in childhood obesity.

"Children and adults today know that being physically active is more important than it's ever been before," she said.

"They know that the right answer to questions about their physical activity level is 'I'm very active.'"

The study was based on information gathered during a children's lifestyle study in which 4,000 pairs of parents and Grade 5 students were surveyed about physical activity and sedentary habits.

There are several reasons why studies that allow children to fill out questionnaires about physical activity fall short on accuracy, said Tymowski.

She said children who are obese may also perceive a greater exertion of effort during exercise than children who are normal weight despite participating in equal levels of physical activity.

"They may feel as though they are very physically active although that's not the case," said Tymowski, adding much data collected about physical activity based on the perception of participants is riddled with exaggerations.

"I don't know why we continue to rely on self-report data," she said.

"Study after study continues to show that it is unreliable."

Tymowski said tools that measure physical activity such as accelerometers or pedometers are better suited to gauge activity levels in children.

"That would be preferable to simply asking people," she said. "It has such a high margin of error."