Abstract
BackgroundIn Canada, 31.5 % of children are overweight or obese, putting them at an increased risk of chronic co-morbidities and premature mortality. Physical activity, healthy eating, and screen time are important behavioural determinants of childhood overweight and obesity that are influenced by the family environment, and particularly parents’ support behaviours. However, there is currently a limited understanding of which types of these support behaviours have the greatest positive impact on healthy child behaviours. This study aims to determine the relative contribution of different types of parental support behaviours for predicting the likelihood that children meet established guidelines for daily physical activity, daily fruit and vegetable consumption, and recreational screen time.MethodsA Computer Assisted Telephone Interview survey was used to collect data from a random sample of parents or guardians with at least one child under the age of 18 in Ontario (n = 3,206). Three multivariable logistic regression models were built to predict whether or not parents reported their child was meeting guidelines. Independent variables included parent and child age and gender, multiple indicators of parental support behaviours, and socio-demographic characteristics. Parental support behaviours were categorized post-hoc as motivational, instrumental, regulatory, and conditional based on an adapted framework.ResultsControlling for all other factors in the model, several parental support behaviours were found to be significant predictors of children meeting established health guidelines. For example, conditional support behaviours including taking the child to places where they can be active (OR: 2.06; 95 % CI: 1.32-3.21), and eating meals as a family away from the TV (95 % CI: 1.15-2.41) were significant positive predictors of children meeting physical activity and fruit and vegetable guidelines, respectively.ConclusionsHealth promotion efforts aimed at improving particular parent support behaviours could be effective levers for mitigating the burden of excess body weight in childhood. As such, the influence of support behaviours should be fully considered in any comprehensive approach to prevention and reduction of childhood overweight and obesity.
Highlights
In Canada, 31.5 % of children are overweight or obese, putting them at an increased risk of chronic comorbidities and premature mortality
The purpose of this study is to determine the relative contribution of different types of parental support behaviours for predicting whether children are meeting recommendations for physical activity, screen time, and healthy eating
This study aims to fill the existing gap in knowledge within the literature regarding the relative influence of specific types of parental support behaviours on child health behaviours; and to provide evidence to inform the development of population-level interventions, and other initiatives to address child health behaviours by modifying parental support behaviours
Summary
In Canada, 31.5 % of children are overweight or obese, putting them at an increased risk of chronic comorbidities and premature mortality. The most recent estimates derived from direct anthropometric measurements (i.e., Body Mass Index (BMI) calculated from weight and height) indicate that 31.5 % of Canadian children and youth are overweight or obese according to World Health Organization (WHO) cut-offs [3] This estimate is similar to those in other countries in the western world [4, 5]. Physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and healthy eating are important behavioural determinants of overweight and obesity [7,8,9] Given their importance, each of these behaviours has its own set of national guidelines in Canada, each of which has been developed to reflect the changing needs of children as they age (Table 1). A successful response to child and youth overweight and obesity must consider these underlying complexities [12]
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