Parents may be unwittingly reducing the amount of physical activity their child gets by adopting a particular type of parenting style a study shows.

A Canadian survey of 724 parents of children ages 7 to 12 assessed four types of parenting style — helicopter (overprotective), little-emperor (showered with material goods) tigers (push for exceptional achievement) and concerted cultivation (too many extra-curricular activities).

Only little emperor, tiger mom and concerted cultivation were independently associated with lower physical activity in 7- to 12-year-olds, the study found.

The authors were unsure why helicopter-parenting had no association with physical activity.