Abstract
Many daily routines and behaviors are related to the prevalence of obesity. This study investigated the association between routines and behaviors that act as protective factors related to lower prevalence of obesity in parents (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) and overweight in preschool children (BMI ≥ 85th percentile). Socio-demographic characteristics were assessed in relation to protective routines (PRs), and prevalence of obesity/overweight data from 337 preschool children and their parents. The two PRs assessed with parents included adequate sleep (≥7 h/night) and family mealtime routine (scoring higher than the median score). The four PRs assessed in children included adequate sleep (≥10 h/night), family mealtime routine, limiting screen-viewing time (≤2 h/day of TV, video, DVD), and not having a bedroom TV. Overall, 27.9% of parents were obese and 22.8% of children were overweight, and 39.8% of the parents had both parent PRs, and only 11.6% of children had all four child PRs. Results demonstrated that several demographic factors were significantly related to the use of PRs for parents and children. The lack of PRs was related to increased risk for overweight in children, but not for obesity in parents. However, in the adjusted models the overall cumulative benefits of using PRs was not significant in children either. In the multivariate adjusted logistic regression models, the only significant individual PR for children was adequate sleep. In a path analysis model, parent sleep was related to child sleep, which was in turn related to decreased obesity. Overall, findings suggest that parent and child PRs, especially sleep routines, within a family can be associated and may play an important role in the health outcomes of both parents and children. Understanding the mechanisms that influence how and when parents and children use these PRs may be promising for developing targeted family-based obesity-prevention efforts.
Highlights
The high prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adults in the United States continues to be a major public health concern (Ogden et al, 2012, 2013).Numerous factors have been identified as health-risk behaviors that are related to increases in obesity
Our analyses indicated that exposure to the two parent protective routines (PRs) were not significantly related to a lower prevalence of parental obesity in the unadjusted model, or when controlling for demographic factors
Our analyses indicated that the cumulative effects of PRs were generally not associated with increases in prevalence for obesity in adults or overweight for children when controlling for demographic factors
Summary
The high prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adults in the United States continues to be a major public health concern (Ogden et al, 2012, 2013).Numerous factors have been identified as health-risk behaviors that are related to increases in obesity. Shortened sleep duration (e.g., Chaput et al, 2006; Cappuccio et al, 2008; Taveras et al, 2008; Bell and Zimmerman, 2010), increased television viewing (e.g., Robinson, 2001; Dennison et al, 2002; Viner and Cole, 2005; Danner, 2008) and having a television in the bedroom (e.g., Barr-Anderson et al, 2008) have been connected to increased obesity in children and adults These lifestyle behaviors and routines are rarely practiced in isolation and are typically associated with one another. Television in particular may have several negative pathways to influencing obesity, including replacing time that could be used for physical activity with www.frontiersin.org
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