Agreement over Time of Parent's and Children's Report of Eyeglasses Wear and Visual Activities

Near work visual activities have been associated with development of myopia, while outdoor activities have been found as protective factors for development of myopia. In most studies, time spent in these activities has been based on self-report, either by the child or parent. The Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Ethnicity and Refractive Error (CLEERE) surveyed both parents and children regarding visual activities, including near work and outdoor activity. An earlier study found moderate agreement between parent and child regarding time spent reading and fair agreement for other visual activities This study asks similar questions but with a more ethnically diverse population. This paper investigates how well parents and their children agree regarding glasses wearing behavior and time spent in five visual activities (homework, reading for pleasure, watching TV, play video games and sports/outdoor activities). The primary aim is to determine level of agreement regarding time spent in visual activities, and investigate whether this level of agreement differs by age, gender or ethnicity. The secondary aim is to establish the level of agreement on spectacle wear, age of initial spectacle use, and primary use of spectacles. Using CLEERE data both polytomous logistic regression and multilevel modeling will be used to assess the level of agreement between children's and parent's reports. While it is impossible to know whether the parent or the child's reports most closely reflect the true activity levels, the results from this study may provide useful insight when interpreting studies based upon parent or child self-report of similar type activities.