Parental guidance advised: associations between parental television limits and health behaviors among obese children

Development of a consensus statement on the role of the family in the physical activity, sedentary, and sleep behaviours of children and youth

BACKGROUND

Children and youth who meet the physical activity, sedentary, and sleep behaviour recommendations in the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines are more likely to have desirable physical and psychosocial health outcomes. Yet, few children and youth actually meet the recommendations. The family is a key source of influence that can affect lifestyle behaviours. The purpose of this paper is to describe the process used to develop the Consensus Statement on the Role of the Family in the Physical Activity, Sedentary, and Sleep Behaviours of Children and Youth (0-17 years) and present, explain, substantiate, and discuss the final Consensus Statement.

METHODS

The development of the Consensus Statement included the establishment of a multidisciplinary Expert Panel, completion of six reviews (three literature, two scoping, one systematic review of reviews), custom data analyses of Statistics Canada's Canadian Health Measures Survey, integration of related research identified by Expert Panel members, a stakeholder consultation, establishment of consensus, and the development of a media, public relations, communications and launch plan.

RESULTS

Evidence from the literature reviews provided substantial support for the importance of family on children's movement behaviours and highlighted the importance of inclusion of the entire family system as a source of influence and promotion of healthy child and youth movement behaviours. The Expert Panel incorporated the collective evidence from all reviews, the custom analyses, other related research identified, and stakeholder survey feedback, to develop a conceptual model and arrive at the Consensus Statement: Families can support children and youth in achieving healthy physical activity, sedentary and sleep behaviours by encouraging, facilitating, modelling, setting expectations and engaging in healthy movement behaviours with them. Other sources of influence are important (e.g., child care, school, health care, community, governments) and can support families in this pursuit.

CONCLUSION

Family is important for the support and promotion of healthy movement behaviours of children and youth. This Consensus Statement serves as a comprehensive, credible, and current synopsis of related evidence, recommendations, and resources for multiple stakeholders.

Determinants of Adherence to Healthy Eating Patterns in a Population of Children and Adolescents: Evidence on the Mediterranean Diet in the City of Mataró (Catalonia, Spain)

Despite its benefits, the Mediterranean diet (MD) is being abandoned or not adopted by young generations in most Mediterranean countries. In Spain, up to 69% of the child and adolescent population has been found to have suboptimal adherence to the MD. The aim of this study was to analyze which factors are associated with an optimal adherence to the MD in school-age children and adolescents from Mataró, Spain. A cross-sectional study was performed on 1177 children and adolescents aged between 6 and 18 years from Mataró. The Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for Children and Adolescents (KIDMED index) was used to evaluate adherence to a MD. We found that over 59% of subjects showed suboptimal adherence to a MD, with this prevalence being higher for secondary school than for primary school children. The factors positively associated with following an optimal MD were the mother's education level, children at the primary school level, the absence of distractions at breakfast, and regular physical activity. The availability of spending money was negatively associated with the likelihood of optimal adherence to a MD. Future research should study more in-depth the possible causality between the factors studied and adherence to a MD.

Screen-Related Parenting Practices in Low-Income Mexican American Families

OBJECTIVES

To (1) examine whether the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model predicts maternal screen-related parenting practices and (2) evaluate the relationship of American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)-recommended parenting practices with child television (TV) use behaviors.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, 312 Spanish-speaking and/or English-speaking female primary caregivers of Mexican descent with a child 3 to 5 years of age were recruited from safety-net pediatric clinics. Participants completed a phone interview and screen media diary. Measures included maternal screen-related beliefs, self-efficacy, parenting practices (time restriction, TV in the child's bedroom, allowing viewing while eating meals and while eating snacks), and child viewing behaviors (amount of TV viewing, frequency of eating while viewing). Two path analytic models were estimated.

RESULTS

Positive general beliefs about TV viewing and positive functional beliefs were negatively associated with maternal self-efficacy to restrict TV time (β = -0.14, P < .05; β = -0.27, P < .001). Greater self-efficacy to restrict time was associated with more maternal restriction of time (β = 0.29, P < .001). Greater positive functional beliefs were associated with less self-efficacy to restrict TV viewing with snacks (odds ratio = 0.56; 95% confidence interval, 0.38-0.81). High self-efficacy to restrict viewing with snacks was associated with less allowing of viewing while snacking (β = -0.16, P < .01). Time restriction, TV in the child's bedroom, and allowing viewing while snacking were associated with child TV viewing behaviors.

CONCLUSIONS

Providers should consider maternal beliefs, including beliefs regarding the functional use of screens, and self-efficacy to engage in AAP-recommended parenting practices, when counseling on screen use in this population.