Abstract
BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic could have provoked undesirable harmful effects on movement behaviours among children. OBJECTIVE: To compare levels of physical activity (PA), sedentary behaviour (SB), and sleep time in children prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic (after the lockdown) and to determine the association between changes in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), total PA (TPA), SB, and sleep time between mothers and fathers with their children. METHODS: A total of 110 children (aged 4-7 years) and their parents (63 mothers and 52 fathers) wore GENEActiv accelerometers for 6 days (4 weekdays and 2 weekend days) prior to the pandemic and 1 year into the pandemic to assess SB, MVPA, TPA, and sleep time. RESULTS: Children performed more MVPA on weekdays (p = 0.002), had higher SB (p = 0.001), and slept fewer hours during the pandemic than before (p < 0.001). Likewise, children performed more weekend day MVPA and TPA (p < 0.001) during the pandemic, and slept less than prior to the pandemic (p = 0.002). On weekdays, an increase in mother's MVPA and TPA (categorized as tertiles) was associated with higher increased on MVPA (p = 0.030) and TPA in their children (p = 0.023), respectively. On weekends, an increase in mother's MVPA was also associated with higher increases in MVPA (p = 0.011) in their children. CONCLUSION: During the pandemic, children got more MVPA, more SB, and slept fewer hours than before. Changes in PA seem to be associated with mother's behaviours, especially during weekdays.