Associations Between Meeting Global 24-hour Movement Guidelines And Temperament And Vocabulary Development In Preschoolers

Abstract

PURPOSE: Global 24-hour movement guidelines for physical activity (PA), sedentary time (ST), and sleep were recently published by the World Health Organization for early childhood. Although compliance with similar guidelines has been associated with fewer behavioral and emotional problems and better cognitive development in young children, additional evidence is warranted for other behavioral and developmental measures. METHODS: Cross-sectional analyses were conducted in a sample of 218 preschoolers (50.8 ± 9.5 months). PA and sleep were measured with wrist-based accelerometry for up to 16 days. ST was collected via parent report. Participants were categorized as meeting the full guidelines or not, as well as meeting different combinations of recommendations within the guidelines for weekdays and weekends. Vocabulary knowledge was assessed with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Temperament indicators included surgency extroversion, negative affectivity, and effortful control from the parent-reported Child Behavior Questionnaire Very Short Form. Linear regression models adjusted for age, BMI percentile, and sex were analyzed for vocabulary development and temperament measures with meeting guidelines and combinations of meeting recommendations as predictor variables. RESULTS: Meeting the full guidelines was not significantly associated with any of the outcomes. On weekdays, meeting the ST (β = 6.69, p = 0.030), PA + ST (β = 7.37, p = 0.017), and ST + sleep (β = 6.52, p = 0.036) recommendations was associated with higher vocabulary scores. Weekend PA compliance was associated with lower surgency extroversion scores (β = -0.47, p = 0.036). Meeting PA recommendations on both weekdays (β = -0.65, p = 0.014) and weekends (β = -0.28, p = 0.045), sleep recommendations on weekdays (β = -0.32, p = 0.038), and PA + sleep on weekdays (β = -0.39, p = 0.007) was associated with higher scores for effortful control. CONCLUSION: Although achieving recommendations in some behaviors was associated with vocabulary knowledge and temperament, there was not overall evidence supporting a positive relation between guideline compliance and these developmental measures. Additional research may be warranted to examine what movement behavior compositions are most beneficial for these outcomes. Supported by: NIH R01 HL111695