Title
Resemblance in physical activity levels: The Portuguese sibling study on growth, fitness, lifestyle, and health
Date Issued
01 January 2018
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Pereira S.
Katzmarzyk P.T.
Gomes T.N.
Souza M.
Chaves R.N.
Santos F.K.
Santos D.
Barreira T.V.
Hedeker D.
Maia J.A.
Universidad Nacional de Educación Enrique Guzmán y Valle
Publisher(s)
Wiley-Liss Inc.
Abstract
Objectives: To investigate the relationships of biological, behavioral, familial, and environmental characteristics with siblings´ physical activity (PA) levels as well as the intrapair resemblance in PA. Methods: The sample comprises 834 (390 females) biological siblings [brother-brother (BB), sister-sister (SS), brother-sister (BS)] aged 9 to 20 years. Total PA index (TPAI) was estimated by questionnaire. Information on potential behavioral, familial, and environmental correlates was obtained by self-report; body mass index (BMI), biological maturation, and physical fitness were measured. Multilevel models were used to analyze siblings´ clustered data, and sibling resemblance was estimated with the intraclass correlation (ρ). Results: On average, younger sibs, those more physically fit, and those with more parental support had greater TPAI. Further, BB pairs had higher TPAI levels than SS or BS pairs, but also had greater within-pair variance. When adjusted for all covariates, SS pairs demonstrated greater resemblance in TPAI (ρ = 0.53, 95%CI = 0.38–0.68) than BS (ρ = 0.26, 95%CI = 0.14–0.43) or BB pairs (ρ = 0.18, 95%CI = 0.06–0.44). Conclusions: Age, physical fitness, and parental support were the best predictors of TPAI levels. A moderate level of resemblance in TPAI was observed in SS pairs, while lower resemblance was found for BS and BB pairs. These findings may be due to differences in the roles of shared genetic factors, familial, and environmental characteristics across different sibling types.
Volume
30
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Genética, Herencia Ciencias del deporte y la aptitud física
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85030033950
PubMed ID
Source
American Journal of Human Biology
ISSN of the container
10420533
Sponsor(s)
This work was supported by the FCT— Foundation for Science and Technology Portugal for granting this research (SFRH/BD/116374/2016).
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus