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An Investigation of the Relationship Between School Take-home Assignments and Parents' Screen Time rules for Children

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014 : 1:30 PM - 1:50 PM

Lenna Dawkins-Moultin, M.S. , Department of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Xuewei Chen, M.Ed. , Department of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Andrea McDonald, M.S. , Department of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A&M University
Elisa Lisako Jones-McKyer, Ph.D., M.P.H. , Department of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Sharon McWhinney, PhD, RD , Department of Agriculture, Nutrition & Human Ecology, Prairie Vie A&M University, Prairie View, TX
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
Background: Schools are encouraged to engage parents in promoting children’s health, but the effectiveness of the relationship between the home and school is still obscure. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between school take-home assignments related to physical activity and parental rules for screen time.

Methods: Participants were parents (N=298) of 4th grade students from seven schools in a rural Texas county. Data on various variables about rules for screen time (E.g., less than 2 hours TV/ day) and school assignments related to physical activity and TV watching were analyzed. Descriptive analyses were conducted. Multinomial logistic regression models were performed on rules for TV and related behaviors using school assignments as predictors.

Results: Not many parents reported schools assigned take-home activities to increase physical activity (35.1%) or decrease TV watching (33.7%). Most parents set rules for TV/DVD and Internet use for their children. If the children brought home assignments to increase physical activity, their parents were about 3 times more likely to ask them to watch TV/DVD less than 2 hours/day (B=1.026, Exp (B)=2.790, SE=.337, p<.01), and about 3.5 times more likely to ask them to exercise first before using TV/computer (B=1.247, Exp(B)=3.480, SE=.547, p<.05). If children brought home assignments to decrease screen time, their parents were about 2 times more likely to set restrictions on internet use (B=.657, Exp(B)=1.928, SE=.326, p<.05) .

Conclusion: A strong link between parents’ screen time rules and school take-home assignments exists. Greater effort is needed to strengthen the home-school dyad.

Learning Areas:

Advocacy for health and health education
Environmental health sciences
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Analyze whether school take-home assignments or activities influences parents' screen time rules for their children

Keyword(s): Child Health Promotion, Behavioral Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I worked as a graduate assistant on the School Wellness and Advocacy Project. My research interests include school health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3287.0: Behavioral Science/Health Education Student Presentations