Relationships among parent and child body composition, eating habits and physical and sedentary activities

Background: The prevalence of childhood overweight has drastically increased in children over the past 30 years. Parents are important role models for their children's health behaviors. Purpose: This study focuses on relationships among parent and child for body mass index (BMI), eating habits, and physical and sedentary activity levels. Subjects: A sample of 71 parent-child dyads participated in this exploratory study. Children are 5-13 years old (mean =9.69, SD = 1.96). Parents are 23-75 years old (mean = 38.37, SD = 10.60). Most children are male (52%) and most are overweight (BMI at or above the 95th percentile for age and gender; mean BMI = 27.7 kg/m2). Methods: Parents and children each completed a demographic and health behavior questionnaire. Subjects chose to complete questionnaires by interview or self-report. Data analysis: A correlation matrix was generated to examine relationships among parents and children on variables of interest. Results: There were significant associations among parents for sedentary activity and fruit consumption (rho = -0.25, p = 0.035) and vegetable and fruit consumption (rho = 0.357, p = 0.002); among children for sedentary and physical activity (rho = -0.26, p = 0.033), vegetable and fruit consumption (rho = 0.26, p = 0.031), BMI and physical activity (rho = -0.29, p = 0.015); and between parents and children for sedentary activity (rho = 0.28, p = 0.023). Conclusions: Sedentary activity is associated with poor health behaviors for parents and children. Parents may be poor role models for their children on this behavior.