Abstract
ObjectivesThe main aim of this study was to bridge the research gap in the countries of Central Europe using the family dyad approach to examine the associations of parents’ overweight/obesity, physical activity (PA), and screen time (ST) with excessive body weight in their offspring.MethodsThe cross-sectional study included 1101 parent–child dyads (648/453 mother/father–child aged 4–16) selected by two-stage stratified random sampling with complete data on body weight categories, weekly PA (Yamax pedometer), ST (family logbook) collected over a regular school/working week during the spring and autumn seasons between 2013 and 2019. Binary logistic regression analyses were used to identify which of parents’ lifestyle indicators were associated with the overweight/obesity of their offspring.ResultsThe mother’s overweight/obesity significantly increases her children’s odds of overweight/obesity. Concerning fathers, active participation in organized leisure-time PA and reaching 10,000 steps per day significantly reduce the odds of overweight/obesity in their children and adolescent offspring.ConclusionsThe cumulative effect of parental participation in organized leisure-time PA with their own family-related PA can be a natural means of preventing the development of overweight/obesity in their offspring.
Highlights
Children and adolescents spend most of their time during childhood at home and in the school environment, where their health, social, and lifestyle-related habits (Mollborn and Lawrence 2018) are formed through education and the application of family and school rules
The cumulative effect of parental participation in organized leisure-time physical activity (PA) with their own family-related PA can be a natural means of preventing the development of overweight/obesity in their offspring
To economically developed non-European countries (Garriguet et al 2017) and Western European countries (Bringolf-Isler et al 2018), the findings from Central Europe show a positive relationship between the physical activity (PA) and screen time (ST) of parents and their offspring when the aggregated PA of the family is monitored in an objective way (Sigmundovaet al. 2018)
Summary
Children and adolescents spend most of their time during childhood at home and in the school environment, where their health, social, and lifestyle-related habits (Mollborn and Lawrence 2018) are formed through education and the application of family and school rules. The associations between the body weight level of parents and their offspring in relation to PA in families in the Central European region are rarely (Erkelenz et al 2014; Horodyska et al 2019) and objective monitoring of PA in such studies is even scarcer (Erkelenz et al 2014). The presented study is unique in the region of Central Europe
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call