Family Eating Behavior and Child Eating Patterns Differences Between Children With and Without Siblings

Health-related behaviors and weight-related outcomes within sibling pairs: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Siblings reciprocally contribute to mutual social and physical development. The aim of this review was to examine the health-related behaviors and weight-related outcomes within child-sibling pairs and to determine how these factors vary by sibling composition.

METHODS

Following the PRISMA guidelines, a systematic review of studies published since 2000 obtained from MEDLINE, CINAHL, PubMed, Cochrane Reviews, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Health and Wellness, and Science Direct was performed. The eligibility criteria for inclusion were: 1) peer-reviewed and published in English; 2) included children ages 2 to 20 and their siblings; and 3) explored health-related behaviors (i.e., diet) and/or weight-related outcomes (i.e., body weight) within child-sibling dyads.

RESULTS

A total of 13 studies were included in the review. The study findings are summarized according to three major themes: 1) sibling concordance in health-related behaviors and weight-related outcomes, 2) differences in health-related behaviors within weight-concordant/weight-discordant sibling dyads, and 3) influence of sibling composition on health-related behaviors and weight-related outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Family-based interventions for childhood obesity may benefit from including siblings as key family members in promoting children's health-related behaviors and preventing excessive weight gain. Future studies should explore variable sibling dynamics (e.g., adoptive siblings) in more culturally/racially diverse families to further explore the role of a sibling in a child's health.

IMPLICATIONS TO PRACTICE

The findings of this study may help healthcare providers in developing effective family-based obesity interventions for families with more than one child in their household.

Longitudinal changes in home food availability across the first 3 years of life and associations with family context predictors

Background

There is limited research tracking changes in home food availability during the first 3 years of life and whether the family context influences these changes.

Objective

This study examined changes in and predictors of home food availability across the first 3 years of life.

Design

This study utilized longitudinal data from the STRONG Kids2 birth cohort from the target child at 6 weeks to 36 months postpartum.

Participants

Mothers of 468 children were surveyed at 6 weeks, 3, 12, 24, and 36 months postpartum.

Methods

Home observations were completed by trained research assistants to complete the presence of foods in the home. The primary outcomes were the availability of 10 food groups and scores from the Home Food Inventory (HFI), including dairy (regular fat), dairy (reduced fat), processed meats, other meats and non-dairy protein, savory snacks, vegetables, vegetables (no potatoes), and three obesogenic scores. Repeated measures ANOVA were used to examine changes in the HFI food groups and obesogenic scores over time. Multilevel regressions were conducted to examine whether the presence of an older sibling, entry into childcare, and mother's return to full-time work were associated with the HFI.

Results

Significant changes were detected for dairy (regular fat), other meats and non-dairy protein, savory snacks, vegetables, vegetables (no potatoes), and all obesogenic scores across time. A linear trend occurred for most HFI groups, however, the third obesogenic score (without milk and cheese) was highest at 3 months, declined at 12 months, and then slowly increased from 12 to 36 months years. The presence of an older sibling was a consistent predictor of the HFI groups over time. Entry into childcare was only associated with the availability of processed meats.

Conclusion

The availability of food types shift as children age and their dietary needs alter. It is important to consider the whole family context such as the presence of older siblings whose dietary needs may differ from younger children. Future efforts are warranted to consider changes in food availability among diverse samples and different family structures.

Socioeconomic status and problem behaviors in young Chinese children: A moderated mediation model of parenting styles and only children

Introduction

This study tested a moderated mediation model of child number (CN) and parenting styles (PS) in the relationships between family socioeconomic status (SES) and young children's problem behaviors (PB).

Methods

A sample of 1,101 children (M_age = 4.90 years, SD = 1.07) and their parents participated in this study. Parents reported on PS, SES, and children's PB.

Results and Discussion

The results show SES was positively related to authoritative parenting and negatively related to authoritarian parenting; problem behaviors were negatively related to authoritative parenting and positively related to authoritarian parenting; authoritative parenting and authoritarian parenting mediated the relationship between SES and PB; and singleton moderated the relationship between SES and PB. The combination of only children and low levels of SES could lead to high PB levels, while the combination of non-only children and high levels of SES could lead to high PB levels. At the same SES, only children had higher PB levels than non-only children.

Neighborhoods matter; but for whom? Heterogeneity of neighborhood disadvantage on child obesity by sex

Although evidence suggests that neighborhood context, particularly socioeconomic context, influences child obesity, little is known about how these neighborhood factors may be heterogeneous rather than monolithic. Using a novel dataset comprised of the electronic medical records for over 250,000 children aged 2-17 nested within 992 neighborhoods in the greater Houston area, we assessed whether neighborhoods influenced the obesity of children differently based on sex. Results indicated that neighborhood disadvantage, assessed using a comprehensive, multidimensional, latent profile analysis-generated measure, had a strong, positive association with the odds of obesity for both boys and girls. Interactions revealed that the relationship between disadvantage and obesity was stronger for girls, relative to boys. Our findings demonstrated the complex dynamics underlying the influence of residential neighborhood context on obesity for specific subgroups of children.

Family influence on the nutritional status and eating habits of six to nine year-old children

ABSTRACT Objective To investigate whether caregivers’ attitudes, beliefs, practices, alimentary habits, and nutritional status influence the alimentary habits and nutritional status of children aged six to nine years. Methods This cross-sectional study included 164 children and a family member (caregiver) each (n=164), carried out in the family health units of the municipality of Ribeirão Preto (SP), Brazil. Weight and height measurements were performed; each child was then evaluated by the application of both the Child Feeding Questionnaire and 24h recall (for calculating the Healthy Eating Index Revised), in addition to the assessment of adherence to healthy eating steps of the Ministry of Health, through a questionnaire. Results The results showed that the prevalence of being overweight was 18.3% in children and 32.9% in caregivers, and the prevalence of obesity was 15.9% and 37.9%, respectively. Most of the 56 children categorized as overweight also had overweight caregivers (82.1%; n=46). Concerns regarding children’s weight control were higher among caregivers responsible for overweight children (3.6±1.29). In contrast, caregivers responsible for children below or at normal weight demonstrated a greater tendency toward getting children to eat (3.3±0.97 and 3.9±0.99, respectively). The average score; of the children’s Brazilian Healthy Eating Index Revised (50.0±13.6) was similar to that of their caregivers (56.5±12.1). Conclusions Caregivers have a direct influence on the nutritional status and eating habits of children; therefore, they should be targeted in the processes of nutritional intervention for the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity.

Is the intergenerational transmission of overweight 'gender assortative'?

Using almost two decades worth of data from the Health Survey for England, that contain representative records of clinically measured weight and height, this paper studies whether parents and children's overweight (including obesity) is 'gender assortative'. Our findings suggest that the intergenerational transmission of parent's overweight differs by children's sex and is statistically different for fathers and mothers. Gender assortative overweight is stronger among pre-school age and school-aged children. The parent-child associations are large and precisely estimated, heterogeneous by children's age and sex and stronger among white children and children of older parents. These results suggest there is a gender assortative intergenerational association of overweight.