Conceptualizing Family Influences on Children's Energy Balance-Related Behaviors: Levels of Interacting Family Environmental Subsystems (The LIFES Framework).

Christina Y.N Niermann,Stef P.J Kremers,Sanne M.P.L Gerards

doi:10.3390/ijerph15122714

Abstract

Healthy or unhealthy behavioral patterns develop and are maintained in a family context. The importance of the family environment for children’s and adolescents’ energy balance-related behaviors (EBRBs) has been shown previously. However, the way different family environmental factors are interrelated and interact with personal factors (e.g., motivation) are not well understood. Furthermore, the majority of studies have focused on the parent-child subsystem. However, there are family-level socialization dynamics that affect the development of a healthy lifestyle beyond the impact of parenting behaviors. The current paper aims to synthesize theoretical and empirical literature on different types of family influences. The Levels of Interacting Family Environmental Subsystems (LIFES) framework incorporates family influences on three levels (immediate, proximal, distal) and of three subsystems (individual, parent-child, family), relates them to each other and postulates potential paths of influence on children’s EBRBs. Several studies examining specific sections of the framework provide empirical support for LIFES’ propositions. Future studies should place their research in the context of the interrelationship of different family environmental influences. A better understanding of the interrelated influences would enhance the understanding of the development and maintenance of overweight and obesity among children and is crucial for the development of effective interventions.

Highlights

Too many children and adolescents make unhealthy food choices, are not sufficiently physically active and spend too much time in sedentary behaviors [1,2,3]
Research has shown that these behaviors, referred to as energy balance-related behaviors (EBRBs) [4], are associated with negative effects on health and well-being [5,6,7,8,9,10], as they have been associated with weight gain and the development of overweight and obesity
“bigger picture” of family environmental influences, we have developed a framework, called Levels of Interacting Family Environmental Systems (LIFES) with the aim of (1) illustrating that the family is more than parent-child interactions, (2) assisting researchers in putting their study in the context of the family environment, (3) stimulating research that includes higher level influences, and (4)

Summary

Introduction

Too many children and adolescents make unhealthy food choices, are not sufficiently physically active and spend too much time in sedentary behaviors [1,2,3]. Since unhealthy lifestyle habits often track into adulthood [11], it is important that healthy lifestyle habits are established at a young age. It is well-known that individuals’ healthy lifestyles are determined by a multitude of influences, including individual as well as social and physical environment factors and their interplay. The family is the basic social context where healthy or unhealthy behavior patterns develop and are maintained [12].

Objectives

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion