Mother–child engagement in sports and outdoor activities: Intensive mothering, purposive leisure, and implications for health and relationship closeness

Using Fragile Families and Child Well-Being data (N = 3252) from the US, this study examines mother–child interactions in sports and outdoor activities with their nine-year-old children, and their association with mothers’ perceptions of the extent to which they think they are a good parent. The study also considers the implications of these mother–child engagement activities for the health of both generations and for their feelings of relationship closeness. The results reveal that most mothers participate in sports or outdoor activities with their child once per week or more; also, mother–child interactions are positively associated with mothers’ perceptions of being a good parent. In addition, we find that mother–child interactions in sports and outdoor activities are positively associated with mothers’ reports of their health and relationship closeness, but that it is children’s organized sports participation (and not mother–child interactions in sports and outdoor activities) that is positively associated with the children’s reports of their health and mother–child relationship closeness. Overall, there is support for understanding mother–child interactions in sports and outdoor activities as extensions of intensive mothering expectations and purposive leisure goals, and interactions that have positive implications for health and relationship closeness.