Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of general and activity-specific support from parents and peers on youth participation in physical activity and obesity. This study tested a mediation model of physical activity on the relationship between multiple forms of support and obesity. Seventy-six adolescents (33 male, 43 female) who had received treatment for weight related problems completed questionnaires regarding body weight, aspects of parent and peer support, and physical activity behaviors. Path analysis was used as the primary method to test the study's hypotheses. As expected, linear regressions found that parent and peer general support, as well as parent and peer activity-specific support predicted physical activity behaviors. The mediator (physical activity) was found to be a significant predictor of BMI. Mediational analyses indicated that physical activity acted as a partial mediator in the relationships between both parent and peer activity-specific support with BMI. Mediational analyses indicated that physical activity did not act a mediator in the relationships between parent or peer general support with BMI. In this study, the type of support most highly related to physical activity was parent activity-specific. The current findings are encouraging for overweight adolescents, their families, and treatment providers, and suggest that with increased activity specific support overweight adolescents are more likely to engage in physical activity behaviors, which will have an effect on their body mass index.