Abstract
BackgroundThe family, and parents in particular, are considered the most important influencers regarding children’s energy-balance related behaviours (EBRBs). When children become older and gain more behavioural autonomy regarding different behaviours, the parental influences may become less important and peer influences may gain importance. Therefore the current study aims to investigate simultaneous and interactive associations of family rules, parent and friend norms and modelling with soft drink intake, TV viewing, daily breakfast consumption and sport participation among schoolchildren across Europe.MethodsA school-based cross-sectional survey in eight countries across Europe among 10–12 year old schoolchildren. Child questionnaires were used to assess EBRBs (soft drink intake, TV viewing, breakfast consumption, sport participation), and potential determinants of these behaviours as perceived by the child, including family rules, parental and friend norms and modelling. Linear and logistic regression analyses (n = 7811) were applied to study the association of parental (norms, modelling and rules) and friend influences (norm and modelling) with the EBRBs. In addition, potential moderating effects of parental influences on the associations of friend influences with the EBRBs were studied by including interaction terms.ResultsChildren reported more unfavourable friend norms and modelling regarding soft drink intake and TV viewing, while they reported more favourable friend and parental norms and modelling for breakfast consumption and physical activity. Perceived friend and parental norms and modelling were significantly positively associated with soft drink intake, breakfast consumption, physical activity (only modelling) and TV time. Across the different behaviours, ten significant interactions between parental and friend influencing variables were found and suggested a weaker association of friend norms and modelling when rules were in place.ConclusionParental and friends norm and modelling are associated with schoolchildren’s energy balance-related behaviours. Having family rules or showing favourable parental modelling and norms seems to reduce the potential unfavourable associations of friends’ norms and modelling with the EBRBs.
Highlights
Overweight and obesity are important determinants of avoidable burden of disease [1,2] and overweight and obesity track from childhood into adulthood [3,4]
As reported before [Te Velde et al, Correlates paper, unpublished data], in general children reported unfavourable friend norm and modelling for the unhealthy behaviours with 45% and 38% reporting that friends think that drinking soft drinks and TV viewing is ‘good – very good’ respectively
Less unfavourable parental norm and modelling for soft drink intake and TV viewing were reported by the children; with 13% and 8% reporting that parent would think that drinking soft drinks and TV viewing would be ‘good – very good’
Summary
Overweight and obesity are important determinants of avoidable burden of disease [1,2] and overweight and obesity track from childhood into adulthood [3,4]. The family, and parents in particular, are considered the most important influencers regarding children’s EBRBs [5,6,7,8,9]. When children become older and gain more behavioural autonomy regarding different EBRBs, the parental influences may become less important and peer influences may gain importance [15,16]. The family, and parents in particular, are considered the most important influencers regarding children’s energy-balance related behaviours (EBRBs). When children become older and gain more behavioural autonomy regarding different behaviours, the parental influences may become less important and peer influences may gain importance. The current study aims to investigate simultaneous and interactive associations of family rules, parent and friend norms and modelling with soft drink intake, TV viewing, daily breakfast consumption and sport participation among schoolchildren across Europe
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
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 callMore From: International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
