Table 6 Quotes about factors of grandparents’ physical activity and sedentary behavior on the interpersonal (social influence) level

Family interaction

Quote 16 (Grandparent 29, ♀, 54 years): “There’s a difference when I’m alone with the grandchildren or when grandpa or auntie are at home. When I’m alone with them, we do less crafts and we rather spend time on the playground, on the trampoline, on the swing or with the chickens outside. But when grandpa or auntie is at home, those physical activities are easier done with them while more crafting activities are done with me.”

Grandchild(ren)’s parents

Compensation for busy parental life

Quote 17 (Grandparent 32, ♀, 61 years): “The two children of my eldest daughter live in a hard-working family, so I think that’s a kind of compensation behavior, that we say ‘yes, but here they can…’. We also live in a place where it’s very easy to move around a lot, so we want to make full use of that with the grandchildren, because we know that at home with their parents it’s more restricted, they’ll do it less.”

Parental control

Quote 18 (Grandparent 15, ♀, 66 years): “The eldest grandson wants to spend the whole day on the computer playing games, but also watching animals, watching firemen, he’s obsessed with that and his parents want to avoid this. As a solution, I try to tell him about it through children’s books.”

Grandparent partner’s physical health

Quote 19 (Grandparent 27, ♀, 58 years): “My husband is retired but he suffers a lot from back problems, so we can’t go for miles and miles, it’s usually a short walk.”