| 1. |
- Abdollahi, Anna M., et al.
(författare)
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Comparison of actigraphy-measured and parent-reported sleep in association with weight status among preschool children
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of Sleep Research. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0962-1105 .- 1365-2869. ; 33:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study compared weekday and weekend actigraphy-measured and parent-reported sleep in relation to weight status among preschool-aged children. Participants were 3–6 years old preschoolers from the cross-sectional DAGIS-study with sleep data for ≥2 weekday and ≥2 weekend nights. Parents-reported sleep onset and wake-up times were gathered alongside 24 h hip-worn actigraphy. An unsupervised Hidden-Markov Model algorithm provided actigraphy-measured night time sleep without the guidance of reported sleep times. Waist-to-height ratio and age-and-sex-specific body mass index characterised weight status. Comparison of methods were assessed with consistency in quintile divisions and Spearman correlations. Associations between sleep and weight status were assessed with adjusted regression models. Participants included 638 children (49% girls) with a mean ± SD age of 4.76 ± 0.89. On weekdays, 98%–99% of actigraphy-measured and parent-reported sleep estimates were classified in the same or adjacent quintile and were strongly correlated (rs = 0.79–0.85, p < 0.001). On weekends, 84%–98% of actigraphy-measured and parent-reported sleep estimates were respectively classified and correlations were moderate to strong (rs = 0.62–0.86, p < 0.001). Compared with actigraphy-measured sleep, parent-reported sleep had consistently earlier onset, later wake-up, and greater duration. Earlier actigraphy-measured weekday sleep onset and midpoint were associated with a higher body mass index (respective β-estimates: −0.63, p < 0.01 and −0.75, p < 0.01) and waist-to-height ratio (−0.004, p = 0.03 and −0.01, p = 0.02). Though the sleep estimation methods were consistent and correlated, actigraphy measures should be favoured as they are more objective and sensitive to identifying associations between sleep timing and weight status compared with parent reports.
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| 2. |
- Burnett, Alissa J., et al.
(författare)
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The role of parental congruence in pre-school children's screen time, moderated by parental education
- 2023
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Ingår i: Acta Paediatrica. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0803-5253 .- 1651-2227. ; 112:7, s. 1504-1510
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- AimThis study investigated whether parental congruency regarding screen time (ST) is associated with ST in pre-school children. In addition, we investigated whether parental education levels moderated this relationship.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in 2015–2016 in Finland (N = 688). Parents completed a questionnaire reporting their children's sedentary behaviour, their parental congruency regarding ST rules, and their educational level. Associations were examined using linear regression.ResultsChildren of parents with higher congruence regarding ST rules engaged in less ST, this was moderated by parental education levels. Children whose parents had a high level of education and parents' who strongly agree or somewhat agree on ST rules was negatively associated with ST. Furthermore, children whose parents had a medium level of education and parents' who strongly agree on ST rules was negatively associated with ST.ConclusionChildren of parents who agree on ST rules engaged in less ST compared with children of parents who do not agree on ST rules. Providing advice to parents regarding parental congruency could be the focus of future interventions.
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| 3. |
- Engberg, Elina, et al.
(författare)
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Parental Happiness Associates With the Co-occurrence of Preschool-Aged Children’s Healthy Energy Balance-Related Behaviors
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Happiness Studies. - : Springer Nature. - 1389-4978 .- 1573-7780. ; 23:4, s. 1493-1507
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We examined whether parental happiness associate with preschoolers’ healthy energy balance-related behaviors (EBRBs) and with the co-occurrence of multiple healthy EBRBs. This cross-sectional study included 647 pairs of parents (88% mothers) and children (mean age 4.7, SD 0.9 years). Parents completed the Subjective Happiness Scale. In addition, ActiGraph accelerometers measured children’s physical activity, and parents reported screen time and food consumption on behalf of their children. We defined four healthy EBRBs: meeting physical activity guidelines; meeting screen time guidelines; a higher consumption of vegetables, fruits and berries; and a lower consumption of sugary foods, treats and drinks. Parental happiness scores did not associate with children’s healthy EBRBs when each behavior was analyzed separately. However, parents with higher happiness scores were more likely to have a child with 2 or 3–4 healthy EBRBs than a child with 0–1 healthy EBRBs. To conclude, parents who are happier have children with multiple healthy EBRBs. Targeting parental wellbeing should be considered when promoting children’s healthy EBRBs.
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| 4. |
- Gustafsson, Jasmine, et al.
(författare)
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Parental Mental Well-Being and Frequency of Adult-Child Nature Visits : The Mediating Roles of Parents' Perceived Barriers
- 2021
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Ingår i: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI. - 1661-7827 .- 1660-4601. ; 18:13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Regular access to green space has been shown to provide several health benefits for children. However, children today spend less time outdoors. Thus, it has become important to understand what drives and limits children's activities in nature. Based on a Finnish online survey of 1463 parents of children aged 2-7 conducted in 2019, the current study examined parents' perceived barriers to visiting nature with their children. It also examined how parental mental well-being is related to families' frequency of nature visits, and whether this association is mediated by different categories of parents' perceived barriers. Eleven out of 12 barriers were largely perceived by parents as reasons that did not prevent them from visiting nature with their children. Next, factor analysis indicated a three-factor solution to the barriers. The results of a multiple mediation analysis showed that better parental mental well-being was associated with more frequent adult-child nature visits, and this relationship was partially mediated by a "lack of competence and logistics" and a "lack of time and interest", but not by "insecurity and fear". The results indicated that parents with poor mental well-being were more likely to perceive barriers to visiting nature, which in turn appeared to be related to a higher likelihood of having children who visited nature less frequently.
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| 5. |
- Gustafsson, Jasmine, et al.
(författare)
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Role of early childhood educators' demographic characteristics and perceived work environment in implementation of a preschool health promotion intervention
- 2023
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Ingår i: Archives of Public Health. - : Springer Nature. - 0778-7367 .- 2049-3258. ; 81:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Research has indicated that the effectiveness of intervention programs is affected by how well these programs are implemented, but key gaps remain in our understanding of the factors that promote or inhibit implementation. This study examined how demographic characteristics and perceived work environment among early childhood educators were associated with implementation outcomes of the Increased Health and Wellbeing in Preschools (DAGIS) intervention, which was conducted as a cluster randomized trial.Methods: Participants included 101 educators from 32 intervention preschool classrooms. Data were analyzed at the classroom level, as the DAGIS intervention was delivered in preschool classrooms consisting of several educators instead of individual implementers. Linear regression was used to estimate the associations of educators' demographic characteristics and perceived work environment with different aspects of implementation (i.e., dose delivered; dose received - exposure; dose received - satisfaction; and perceived quality, as well as a total sum score based on these four dimensions). Municipality was controlled in the adjusted models.Results: Findings indicated that having a higher proportion of educators with a Bachelor's or Master's degree in education within the classroom was associated with higher dose received - exposure and higher total degree of implementation, and the significance of the models was unaffected by adjustment for municipality. Moreover, having a higher proportion of educators younger than 35 years within the classroom was associated with higher dose received - exposure. However, the association was non-significant when adjusted for municipality. No other educator factor (i.e., work experience in years and perceived support from coworkers, group work, and innovative climate) predicted implementation outcomes.Conclusions: Higher educational attainment and younger age among educators at the classroom level were associated with higher scores for some of the implementation outcomes. Educators' work experience in years at the current preschool and in early childhood education, support from coworkers, group work, and innovative climate were not significantly associated with any implementation outcomes. Future research should explore ways to improve educators' implementation of interventions aimed at promoting children's health behaviors.
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| 6. |
- Kokkonen, Juuli-Mari, et al.
(författare)
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Associations between Parent–Child Nature Visits and Sleep, Physical Activity and Weight Status among Finnish 3–6-Year-Olds
- 2021
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Ingår i: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI. - 1661-7827 .- 1660-4601. ; 18:23
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nature visits and nature exposure have been shown to be favorably associated with children’s health and development, but the research regarding their associations with children’s lifestyle habits is limited. The current study aimed to investigate the associations between the frequency of parent–child nature visits and sleep, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and weight status among three- to six-year-old Finnish preschoolers. Parents and their children (n = 864) participated in a cross-sectional DAGIS (increased health and wellbeing in preschools) study, which was conducted between 2015 and 2016 in Finland. In total, 798 parents answered a questionnaire on the frequency of parent–child nature visits, which also included questions on sociodemographic factors and their children’s sleep habits. Parents also reported children’s bedtimes and wake-up times and children wore an accelerometer for seven days. Trained researchers measured children’s weight and height. Linear and logistic regression analyses were conducted. More frequent parent–child nature visits were associated with children’s longer sleep duration at night, higher amounts of MVPA outside preschool time and, among girls, good sleep consistency. The frequency of parent–child nature visits was not significantly associated with whether children were overweight or obese or not. Promoting parent–child nature visits could be a cost-effective way to increase young children’s MVPA and enhance night-time sleep.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Lehto, Reetta, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of the DAGIS randomized controlled trial on home environment and children's food consumption according to the degree of implementation
- 2022
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Ingår i: BMC Public Health. - : BioMed Central (BMC). - 1471-2458. ; 22:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Combining process evaluation data with effectiveness data and examining the possible mediators of intervention effects elicits valuable knowledge about how and for whom these interventions are effective. The aim of this study was to examine whether the parental degree of implementation (DOI) of a home-involving preschool intervention affected children's food consumption via home mediators. Methods The five-month Increased Health and Wellbeing in Preschools (DAGIS) intervention involved 476 participating children aged 3-6 years and was conducted in 2017-2018. Parents reported children's food consumption (g/day) outside childcare hours, the availability of foods at home, role modelling of food consumption, and the norms related to food consumption. In addition, parents reported the extent to which they had implemented the intervention program at home. Mediation analyses were conducted to examine the effect of low and high DOI compared to control group on the change in children's consumption of fruit and vegetables (FV), sugary everyday foods, sugary treats, and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) via food availability in the home, parental role modelling and parental norms. Results Compared to the control group, there was a direct effect of a high DOI on diminishing consumption of SSB (B -27.71, 95% CI -49.05, -4.80). No indirect effects were detected. In the high DOI group, a change in parental norm was associated with increased FV consumption showing an indirect effect (B 4.31, 95% CI 0.23, 10.59). In the low DOI group, there was an indirect effect via decreased food availability leading to decreased sugary everyday food consumption (B -2.17, 95% CI -5.09, -0.09). Conclusions Combining process evaluation and effectiveness data revealed a decrease in children's SSB consumption only in the high DOI group, as well as indirect effects on children's consumption of FV and sugary everyday foods. In order to gain more intervention effects, further studies are required in order to examine parental facilitators and barriers to the implementation of interventions and how to impact effectively the determinants of the targeted behavior.
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| 9. |
- Ray, Carola, et al.
(författare)
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Psychometric properties of the item-reduced version of the comprehensive general parenting questionnaire for caregivers of preschoolers in a Finnish context
- 2022
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 17:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction Many instruments for assessing general parenting have been reported as burdensome and are thus seldom used in studies exploring children's energy balance-related behaviors or weight. This study evaluates the factorial structure of the item-reduced version of the Comprehensive General Parenting Questionnaire (CGPQ), which assesses five constructs of general parenting. Methods The study uses data from two cross-sectional studies: Study 1 in 2014 (n = 173) and Study 2 in 2015-16 (n = 805). Parents of children aged three to six answered the CGPQ; in Study 1 the 69-item version, and in Study 2 the 29-item version. The reduction was based on the results of the confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) in Study 1. In both datasets, internal consistency, as Cronbach's alphas and intraclass correlations between the items of each construct, was tested. A combined assessment of the CFA and items response theory evaluated the construct validity and the item importance for the 29-item version, and a further the reduced 22-item version. Results In Study 1, the highest Cronbach's alphas were shown for the five constructs in the 69-item version. A higher intraclass correlation was found between the constructs in the 69- and 29-item versions, than between the 69- and the 22-item version. However, a high concordance was found between the constructs in the 29- and 22-item versions in both Study 1 and in Study 2 (0.76-1.00). Testing the goodness-of-fit of the CFA models revealed that the 22-item model fulfilled all the criteria, showing that it had a better factorial structure than the 29-item model. Standard estimations ranged from 0.20 to 0.76 in the 22-item version. Conclusion The reduced 22- and 29-item versions of the 69-item CGPQ showed good model fit, the 22-item version the better of the two. These short versions can be used to assess general parenting without overburdening the respondents.
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| 10. |
- Serasinghe, Nithya, et al.
(författare)
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Associations between socioeconomic status, home food availability, parental role-modeling, and children's fruit and vegetable consumption : a mediation analysis
- 2023
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Ingår i: BMC Public Health. - : BioMed Central (BMC). - 1471-2458. ; 23
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Recent literature has suggested that associations and interactions between family socioeconomic status (SES) and home food environment influence children's diet, but little is known about the mediation roles of parental role-modeling and food availability in the socioeconomic inequalities of children's diet. This study aimed to determine the associations between family SES and children's fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption and to assess the mediation roles of parental role-modeling and food availability in the above associations.Methods: Cross-sectional data of 574 Finnish children (aged 3 to 6) were analyzed. Parents completed an FFQ assessing their children's FV consumption frequency and a questionnaire assessing SES and home food environment. Two exposure variables: parental educational level ("low", "middle", and "high") and the relative family income tertiles of the family were used. The frequencies of parental role-modeling of FV and sugary food and drink (SFD) consumption, and the availability of FV and SFD at home were calculated. Single- and multiple-mediator models were created using IBM SPSS 27.0.Results: The positive association between high parental educational level and children's FV consumption (direct effect coefficient: 2.76, 95% CI: 0.51-4.86) was partially mediated by more frequent parental role-modeling of FV consumption (indirect effect coefficient: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.10-1.76), higher availability of FV (indirect effect coefficient: 1.00, 95% CI: 0.35-1.77), and lower availability of SFD (indirect effect coefficient: -0.30, 95% CI: -0.72 - -0.01). The relative family income was not directly associated with the outcome. However, the higher relative family income level indirectly predicted the Children's FV consumption (full mediation) through more frequent parental role-modeling of FV consumption (indirect effect coefficient: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.06-1.83) and higher availability of FV (indirect effect coefficient: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.40-1.67). Parental role-modeling on SFD consumption did not mediate any of the above associations.Conclusions: Parental educational level showed more associations with children's FV consumption than relative family income. Our findings suggest that reducing the availability of SFD is as important as increasing the availability of FV to enhance children's FV consumption. Future interventions to improve children's dietary behaviors should pay greater attention to the lower SES segments of society. Longitudinal studies and intervention studies supporting these findings are needed for making meaningful recommendations for health promotion.
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