Preschoolers’ and Adults’ Recognition of the Impact of Activities on Weight

Two studies examined if preschoolers and adults recognized the impact of physical and sedentary activities on height and weight. Study 1 investigated if participants associated physically active activities with being thin and sedentary activities with being heavy. Study 2 examined if preschoolers could benefit from being taught the role of activities on height and weight. The results from Study 1 demonstrated that adults associated being heavy to engaging in physically sedentary activities but in Study 2, they associated being thin to engaging in physically active activities. However, preschoolers across both studies did not recognize the role that activities played on weight. Teaching preschoolers about the impact of activities did not have a significant effect on their performance. The results from these studies also indicate that adults erroneously reason about the impact of activities based on whether they view the type of activity as being positive or negative. Preschoolers’ lack of knowledge in this area could be due to the lack of consistent environmental input or that they are not conceptually ready to learn about this topic. These findings highlight the urgent need for parents and educators to emphasize the importance of physical activities in maintaining a healthy lifestyle in early childhood.