Schoeppe Stephanie, Trost Stewart G
Centre for Children's Health Research, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, 62 Graham Street, South Brisbane, QLD, 4101, Australia.
School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, 60 Musk Avenue, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, QLD, 4059, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2015 Sep 28;15:971. doi: 10.1186/s12889-015-2318-9.
Parental support is a key influence on children's health behaviours; however, no previous investigation has simultaneously explored the influence of mothers' and fathers' social support on eating and physical activity in preschool-aged children. This study evaluated the singular and combined effects of maternal and paternal support for physical activity (PA) and fruit and vegetable consumption (FV) on preschoolers' PA and FV.
A random sample comprising 173 parent-child dyads completed validated scales assessing maternal and paternal instrumental support and child PA and FV behaviour. Pearson correlations, controlling for child age, parental age, and parental education, were used to evaluate relationships between maternal and paternal support and child PA and FV. K-means cluster analysis was used to identify families with distinct patterns of maternal and paternal support for PA and FV, and one-way ANOVA examined the impact of cluster membership on child PA and FV.
Maternal and paternal support for PA were positively associated with child PA (r = 0.37 and r = 0.36, respectively; P < 0.001). Maternal but not paternal support for FV was positively associated with child FV (r = 0.35; P < 0.001). Five clusters characterised groups of families with distinct configurations of maternal and paternal support for PA and FV: 1) above average maternal and paternal support for PA and FV, 2) below average maternal and paternal support for PA and FV, 3) above average maternal and paternal support for PA but below average maternal and paternal support for FV, 4) above average maternal and paternal support for FV but below average maternal and paternal support for PA, and 5) above average maternal support but below average paternal support for PA and FV. Children from families with above average maternal and paternal support for both health behaviours had higher PA and FV levels than children from families with above average support for just one health behaviour, or below average support for both behaviours.
The level and consistency of instrumental support from mothers and fathers for PA and FV may be an important target for obesity prevention in preschool-aged children.
父母的支持是影响儿童健康行为的关键因素；然而，此前尚无研究同时探讨母亲和父亲的社会支持对学龄前儿童饮食和身体活动的影响。本研究评估了母亲和父亲对身体活动（PA）及水果和蔬菜消费（FV）的支持对学龄前儿童PA和FV的单独及综合影响。
一个由173对亲子组成的随机样本完成了经过验证的量表，以评估母亲和父亲的工具性支持以及儿童的PA和FV行为。在控制儿童年龄、父母年龄和父母教育程度的情况下，使用Pearson相关性分析来评估母亲和父亲的支持与儿童PA和FV之间的关系。采用K均值聚类分析来识别在PA和FV方面具有不同母亲和父亲支持模式的家庭，单向方差分析则检验聚类归属对儿童PA和FV的影响。
母亲和父亲对PA的支持与儿童PA呈正相关（分别为r = 0.37和r = 0.36；P < 0.001）。母亲对FV的支持与儿童FV呈正相关，但父亲对FV的支持与儿童FV无此关系（r = 0.35；P < 0.001）。五个聚类刻画了在PA和FV方面具有不同母亲和父亲支持配置的家庭群体：1）母亲和父亲对PA和FV的支持高于平均水平，2）母亲和父亲对PA和FV的支持低于平均水平，3）母亲和父亲对PA的支持高于平均水平但对FV的支持低于平均水平，4）母亲和父亲对FV的支持高于平均水平但对PA的支持低于平均水平，5）母亲对PA和FV的支持高于平均水平但父亲的支持低于平均水平。与仅在一种健康行为上获得高于平均水平支持或在两种行为上均获得低于平均水平支持的家庭的儿童相比，在两种健康行为上均获得母亲和父亲高于平均水平支持的家庭的儿童，其PA和FV水平更高。
母亲和父亲对PA和FV的工具性支持的水平和一致性可能是学龄前儿童肥胖预防的一个重要目标。
