Pediatric obesity risk assessment in the preschool setting: Factor validation with spanish-speaking families

Introduction. Ethnic minority children from low income backgrounds bear a disproportionate burden of the obesity epidemic as well as its health-related consequences. It is essential to determine ways to assess the healthy eating patterns in diverse ethnic communities to inform future prevention strategies.

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to examine the factor validity of a pediatric risk assessment on healthy eating and physical activity behaviors with an ethnically diverse sample of preschool age children and their families from low-income backgrounds.

Methods. A total of 980 caregivers (parents/grandparents) completed the ‘Healthy Kids Checklist' to assess the quality of foods being served to the children at home. 60% of children were Hispanic (31% from various Central American countries, 15% Cuban, 10% Mexican). Principal components analysis with Oblimin rotation was the data reduction technique used with 29 items from the Healthy Kids Checklist. Factor loadings for ‘complex' variables >3.0 were retained.

Results. Ten items loaded on the first factor identified as ‘child eating fruit and vegetables' including parent modeling, child eating vegetable at main meal, parent purchasing fruit/vegetables, and parent preparing fruit/vegetables. Based on hypothesized item content, other 6 scales were labeled ‘child eating junk food', ‘child physical activity', ‘parenting behaviors', ‘Child eating out', ‘Child drinking soda', ‘child watching TV'.

Discussion. Factorial validity was demonstrated for the Healthy Kids Checklist tool with this predominantly Spanish-speaking audience. Parent modeling is a critical component of health eating with and should be incorporated into obesity prevention programs targeting this young age group.