Abstract
BackgroundLittle is known about how adolescents and their parents interact and talk about some of the key lifestyle behaviors that are associated with overweight and obesity, such as screen time (ST) and sugary drink (SD) consumption. This qualitative study aimed to explore adolescents' and parents' perceptions, attitudes, and interactions in regards to these topics.MethodsUsing an exploratory approach, semi-structured focus groups were conducted separately with adolescents and (unrelated) parents. Participants were recruited from low and middle socio-economic areas in the Sydney metropolitan area and a regional area of New South Wales, Australia. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis for each of the four content areas (adolescent-ST, adolescent-SD consumption, parents' views on adolescents' ST and parents' views on adolescents' SD consumption).ResultsNine focus groups, with a total of 63 participants, were conducted. Broad themes spanned all groups: patterns of behavior; attitudes and concerns; adolescent-parent interactions; strategies for behavior change; and awareness of ST guidelines. While parents and adolescents described similar patterns of behaviour in relation to adolescents' SD consumption and ST, there were marked differences in their attitudes to these two behaviours which were also evident in the adolescent-parent interactions in the home that they described. Parents felt able to limit adolescents' access to SDs, but felt unable to control their adolescents' screen time.ConclusionThis study offers unique insights regarding topics rarely explored with parents or adolescents, yet which are part of everyday family life, are known to be linked to risk of weight gain, and are potentially amenable to change.
Highlights
Overweight and weight-related behaviors developed during childhood and adolescence tend to track into adulthood, with significant long-term health implications [13]
This study focused on adolescents and parents from low-middle socioeconomic groups because these groups tend to be at higher risk of the development of overweight [25]
Response rate A total of 402 people responded to the initial study invitation, of whom 103 met the eligibility criteria
Summary
Overweight and weight-related behaviors developed during childhood and adolescence tend to track into adulthood, with significant long-term health implications [13]. Consumption of sugary drinks (SDs) and levels of sedentariness in this age group are of particular concern, given that there is probable and convincing evidence, respectively, that these behaviors are associated with increased risk of weight gain and the development of obesity [3,4,5,6,7,8]. Little is known about how adolescents and their parents interact and talk about some of the key lifestyle behaviors that are associated with overweight and obesity, such as screen time (ST) and sugary drink (SD) consumption. This qualitative study aimed to explore adolescents' and parents' perceptions, attitudes, and interactions in regards to these topics
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