This study investigated children’s after-school activity and associations with body mass index (BMI) and family circumstance. One thousand two hundred thirty-four parents and 854 children (age 8–13 years) completed activity diaries for the 2 hours after school. Parents reported children as more active than children reported themselves. Boys were reported to be more active than girls. Activity levels were generally not associated with BMI or family circumstance with the exception of cultural background. Parent-reported mean child METs were higher for mothers born in Australia (3.3 vs. 3.0; p = .02). Child-reported mean METs were higher for fathers born in Australia (2.9 vs. 2.6; p = .04) and where English was their main language (2.9 vs. 2.3, p = .003).
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Kylie Hesketh, Melissa Graham, and Elizabeth Waters
Trina Hinkley, Anna Timperio, Jo Salmon, and Kylie Hesketh
Background:
Little is known about the associations of preschoolers’ health behaviors with their later psychosocial wellbeing. This study investigates the association of 3- to 5-year-old children’s physical activity and electronic media use with their later social-emotional skills (6-8 years).
Methods:
Data were collected in 2008–2009 and 2011–2012 for the Healthy Active Preschool and Primary Years (HAPPY) Study in metropolitan Melbourne. Participants were a random subsample (n = 108) of the 567 children at follow-up. Physical activity was objectively measured using ActiGraph GT1M accelerometers; electronic media use (television viewing, sedentary electronic games and active electronic games) was parent proxy-reported. Social and emotional skills were child-reported using the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory—Youth Version. Regression analyses controlled for sex, clustering by center of recruitment, and accelerometer wear time (for physical activity analyses).
Results:
Sedentary electronic games were positively associated with intrapersonal and stress management skills and total emotional quotient. Computer/internet use was inversely associated with interpersonal, and positively associated with stress management, skills.
Conclusions:
Findings suggest that physical activity is not associated with children’s psychosocial health while some types of electronic media use are. Future research should investigate the contexts in which preschoolers participate in these behaviors and potential causal mechanisms of associations.
Zhiguang Zhang, Madison Predy, Kylie D. Hesketh, Lesley Pritchard, and Valerie Carson
Background: Demographic correlates of movement behaviors in infants are unclear. This study examined the longitudinal associations between demographic correlates and movement behaviors in infants. Methods: Participants were 411 parents of infants from the Early Movers project in Edmonton, Canada. Movement behaviors, infant and parental age, and nonparental care time were assessed using a parental questionnaire at 2, 4, and 6 months of age. Other infant and parental demographic variables were assessed at 2 months of age. Linear and generalized linear mixed models were conducted. Results: Infant age was associated with all movement behaviors except for restrained time. White infants and those with older parents had less tummy time but increased odds of having reading time. Infants of the most educated parents also had lower tummy time. Higher parental education and more siblings were associated with no screen time and longer infant sleep time. Infants with immigrant parent(s) were less likely to have reading time. No associations were found for infant sex, time spent in nonparental care, and parental marital status. Conclusion: Since no single demographic group demonstrated healthy patterns for all movement behaviors, promotion of a healthy balance of movement behaviors may be needed universally for all infants.
Katherine L. Downing, Trina Hinkley, and Kylie D. Hesketh
Background:
There is little current understanding of the influences on sedentary behavior and screen time in preschool children. This study investigated socioeconomic position (SEP) and parental rules as potential correlates of preschool children’s sedentary behavior and screen time.
Methods:
Data from the Healthy Active Preschool Years (HAPPY) Study were used. Participating parents reported their child’s usual weekly screen time and their rules to regulate their child’s screen time. Children wore accelerometers for 8 days to objectively measure sedentary time.
Results:
Children whose parents limited television viewing spent significantly less time in that behavior and in total screen time; however, overall sedentary behavior was unaffected. An association between parents limiting computer/electronic game use and time spent on the computer was found for girls only. SEP was inversely associated with girls’, but not boys’, total screen time and television viewing.
Conclusions:
As parental rules were generally associated with lower levels of screen time, intervention strategies could potentially encourage parents to set limits on, and switch off, screen devices. Intervention strategies should target preschool children across all SEP areas, as there was no difference by SEP in overall sedentary behavior or screen time for boys.
Rachel A. Jones, Annaleise Riethmuller, Kylie Hesketh, Jillian Trezise, Marijka Batterham, and Anthony D. Okely
The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility, acceptability and potential efficacy of a physical activity program for preschool children. A 20-week, 2-arm parallel cluster randomized controlled pilot trial was conducted. The intervention comprised structured activities for children and professional development for staff. The control group participated in usual care activities, which included designated inside and outside playtime. Primary outcomes were movement skill development and objectively measured physical activity. At follow-up, compared with children in the control group, children in the intervention group showed greater improvements in movement skill proficiency, with this improvement statically significant for overall movement skill development (adjust diff. = 2.08, 95% CI 0.76, 3.40; Cohen’s d = 0.47) and significantly greater increases in objectively measured physical activity (counts per minute) during the preschool day (adjust diff. = 110.5, 95% CI 33.6, 187.3; Cohen’s d = 0.46). This study demonstrates that a physical activity program implemented by staff within a preschool setting is feasible, acceptable and potentially efficacious.
Daniel das Virgens Chagas, Kylie Hesketh, Katherine Downing, Mohammadreza Mohebbi, and Lisa M. Barnett
Background: Understanding how or whether sedentary behavior affects motor competence in young children is important considering that children spend a lot of time sedentary. The aim of this study was to examine whether sedentary behavior predicts motor competence in young children. Methods: A longitudinal study with a total of 372 children aged 3.5 years at baseline and 5 years at follow-up was conducted. Objectively measured activity patterns (i.e., using accelerometers) were conducted in a subsample with 188 children. Sedentary behavior was assessed both objectively and subjectively (parent-reported screen time). Locomotor and object control skill scores were determined using the Test of Gross Motor Development—Second Edition. A multivariable analysis was executed adjusting for potential confounders (such as age, sex, time spent in moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity, monitor wear time, body mass index z scores, and maternal education). Results: Sedentary behavior at either time point was not significantly associated with either locomotor or object control skills after adjusting for potential confounders. Discussion: Our results did not support the assumption that sedentary behavior affects motor competence in young children. Regardless, given the lack of consistency in the evidence base, we recommend to parents, educators, and health professionals that sedentary activities should be kept within government recommendations due to potential negative effects on child development.
Gavin Abbott, Jill Hnatiuk, Anna Timperio, Jo Salmon, Keren Best, and Kylie D. Hesketh
Background:
Parental modeling has been shown to be important for school-aged children’s physical activity (PA) and television (TV) viewing, yet little is known about its impact for younger children. This study examined cross-sectional and 3-year longitudinal associations between PA and TV viewing behaviors of parents and their preschool children.
Methods:
In 2008–2009 (T1), parents in the Healthy Active Preschool and Primary Years (HAPPY) cohort study (n = 450) in Melbourne, Australia, self-reported their weekly PA and TV viewing and proxy-reported their partner’s PA and TV viewing and their 3- to 5-year-old preschool child’s TV viewing. Children’s PA was assessed via accelerometers. Repeat data collection occurred in 2011–2012 (T2).
Results:
Mothers’ and fathers’ PAs were associated with PA among preschool girls at T1, but not boys. Parents’ TV viewing times were significant correlates of girls’ and boys’ TV viewing at T1. Longitudinally, mothers’ PA at baseline predicted boys’ PA at T2, whereas sex-specific associations were found for TV viewing, with mothers’ and fathers’ TV viewing at T1 associated with girls’ and boys’ TV viewing respectively at T2.
Conclusions:
The PA and TV viewing of both parents are significantly associated with these behaviors in preschool children. The influence of the sex-matched parent appears to be important longitudinally for children’s TV viewing.
Katrina M. Moss, Annette J. Dobson, Kimberley L. Edwards, Kylie D. Hesketh, Yung-Ting Chang, and Gita D. Mishra
Background: Play equipment at home could be targeted in interventions to increase children’s physical activity (PA), but evidence is mixed, potentially because current methods do not reflect children’s lived experience. This study investigated associations between combinations of equipment and PA. Methods: Data were from the Mothers and their Children’s Health study and the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. Mothers (n = 2409) indicated the types of fixed active (eg, trampolines), portable active (eg, bicycles), and electronic (eg, computers) equipment at home, and the number of days children (n = 4092, aged 5–12 y, 51% boys) met PA guidelines. Latent class analysis was used to identify combinations of equipment, and linear regressions were used to investigate associations with PA. Results: Compared with children with high active (fixed and portable) and medium electronic equipment, children with portable active and medium (B = −0.53; 95% confidence interval, −0.72 to −0.34) or high (B = −0.58; 95% confidence interval, −0.83 to −0.33) electronic equipment met the guidelines on fewer days. Children with similar active equipment (but more electronic equipment) met the PA guidelines on fewer days (mean difference = −0.51, SE = 0.14, P = .002). Conclusion: Having the right combination of play equipment at home may be important for children’s PA.
Katherine L. Downing, Jo Salmon, Anna Timperio, Trina Hinkley, Dylan P. Cliff, Anthony D. Okely, and Kylie D. Hesketh
Background: Although there is increasing evidence regarding children’s screen time, little is known about children’s sitting. This study aimed to determine the correlates of screen time and sitting in 6- to 8-year-old children. Methods: In 2011–2012, parents in the Healthy Active Preschool and Primary Years (HAPPY) study (n = 498) reported their child’s week/weekend day recreational screen time and potential correlates. ActivPALs™ measured children’s nonschool sitting. In model 1, linear regression analyses were performed, stratified by sex and week/weekend day and controlling for age, clustered recruitment, and activPAL™ wear time (for sitting analyses). Correlates significantly associated with screen time or sitting (P < .05) were included in model 2. Results: Children (age 7.6 y) spent 99.6 and 119.3 minutes per day on week and weekend days engaging in screen time and sat for 119.3 and 374.6 minutes per day on week and weekend days, respectively. There were no common correlates for the 2 behaviors. Correlates largely differed by sex and week/weekend day. Modifiable correlates of screen time included television in the child’s bedroom and parental logistic support for, encouragement of, and coparticipation in screen time. Modifiable correlates of sitting included encouragement of and coparticipation in physical activity and provision of toys/equipment for physical activity. Conclusions: Interventions may benefit from including a range of strategies to ensure that all identified correlates are targeted.
Ellen De Decker, Kylie Hesketh, Marieke De Craemer, Trina Hinkley, Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij, Jo Salmon, and Greet Cardon
Background:
Television viewing is highly prevalent in preschoolers (3–5 years). Because of the adverse health outcomes related to this behavior, it is important to investigate associations and mediators of young children’s television viewing time. This study investigated whether parental rules regarding television viewing time and parental concerns about screen viewing activities mediated the association between parents’ and preschoolers’ television viewing time.
Methods:
Mediation analyses were performed with the product-of-coefficient test on data derived from the Australian HAPPY study (n = 947) and the Belgian sample of the ToyBox-study (n = 1527). Parents reported their own and their child’s television viewing time, their rules regarding television viewing and concerns about their child’s screen viewing activities.
Results:
Parents’ television viewing time was directly associated with preschoolers’ television viewing time and parental rule for television viewing time mediated this association in both samples (14.4% and 8.1% in the Australian and Belgian samples, respectively).
Conclusions:
This study is unique in examining the mediating pathway of parental television viewing and a rule limiting TV viewing time and whether this is consistent in different samples. Due to the consistent importance, both parents’ television viewing time and rules should be targeted in interventions to decrease preschoolers’ television viewing time.
