Wong Michelle S, Jones-Smith Jessica C, Colantuoni Elizabeth, Thorpe Roland J, Bleich Sara N, Chan Kitty S
Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Department of Health Services and Nutrition, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
Obesity (Silver Spring). 2017 Oct;25(10):1754-1761. doi: 10.1002/oby.21902. Epub 2017 Jun 21.
Fathers have increased their involvement in child caregiving; however, their changing role in childhood obesity is understudied. This study assessed the longitudinal association between changes in obesity among children aged 2 to 4 years and changes in fathers' involvement with raising children.
Longitudinal data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort were used to conduct child fixed-effects linear and logistic regression analyses to assess the association between changes in childhood obesity-related outcomes (sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, screen time, BMI z score, overweight/obesity, obesity) and fathers' involvement with raising children (caregiving and influencing child-related decisions). Fixed-effects models control for all time-invariant characteristics. Analyses were controlled for time-varying confounders, including child age, maternal and paternal employment, and family poverty status.
Children whose fathers increased their frequency of taking children outside and involvement with physical childcare experienced a decrease in their odds of obesity from age 2 to age 4. Obesity-related outcomes were not associated with fathers' decision-making influence.
Increases in fathers' involvement with some aspects of caregiving may be associated with lower odds of childhood obesity. Encouraging fathers to increase their involvement with raising children and including fathers in childhood obesity prevention efforts may help reduce obesity risk among young children.
父亲参与育儿的程度有所增加；然而，他们在儿童肥胖问题中角色的变化却未得到充分研究。本研究评估了2至4岁儿童肥胖状况的变化与父亲育儿参与度变化之间的纵向关联。
利用来自儿童早期纵向研究——出生队列的纵向数据，进行儿童固定效应线性和逻辑回归分析，以评估儿童肥胖相关结局（含糖饮料消费、屏幕使用时间、体重指数z评分、超重/肥胖、肥胖）的变化与父亲育儿参与度（照顾孩子以及影响与孩子相关的决策）之间的关联。固定效应模型控制了所有不随时间变化的特征。分析中对随时间变化的混杂因素进行了控制，包括孩子年龄、父母就业情况以及家庭贫困状况。
父亲增加带孩子外出频率并更多参与身体护理的孩子，从2岁到4岁肥胖几率降低。与肥胖相关的结局与父亲的决策影响力无关。
父亲在某些照顾方面参与度的提高可能与儿童肥胖几率降低有关。鼓励父亲增加育儿参与度并让父亲参与儿童肥胖预防工作，可能有助于降低幼儿肥胖风险。
