Nutritional Sciences Department, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.
Nutrients. 2021 Apr 23;13(5):1428. doi: 10.3390/nu13051428.
Family social capital includes the social relationships, values, and norms shared by a family and is positively linked with children's mental and physical health status. This cross-sectional study addresses a gap in the literature related to family social capital vis-à-vis weight-related behaviors and home environments of 557 mothers and their young children (ages 2 to 9 years). Mothers completed an online survey comprised of valid, reliable questionnaires assessing family relationships and weight-related behavioral and home environment measures. The measures that determined family social capital (i.e., supportive, engaged parenting behaviors; family cohesion; family conflict; and family meal frequency) yielded distinct tertile groups that differed significantly ( < 0.001) on every family social capital measure with large effect sizes. Analysis of variance with Tukey post-hoc test revealed greater family social capital was linked to significantly better maternal health, dietary intake, physical activity, and sleep behavior. Additionally, maternal modeling of healthy eating and physical activity, child feeding practices, and home environments was higher in groups with greater family social capital. Child mental and physical health, physical activity, and sleep quality were better in families with greater family social capital. Findings suggest greater family social capital is linked to healthier weight-related behaviors and home environments. Future intervention studies should incorporate strategies to build family social capital and compare longitudinal outcomes to traditional interventions to determine the relative value of family social capital on health behaviors.
家庭社会资本包括家庭共享的社会关系、价值观和规范，与儿童的身心健康状况呈正相关。本横断面研究解决了与家庭社会资本相关的文献空白，涉及 557 名母亲及其幼儿（2 至 9 岁）的体重相关行为和家庭环境。母亲们完成了一项在线调查，其中包括评估家庭关系以及与体重相关的行为和家庭环境措施的有效和可靠问卷。确定家庭社会资本的措施（即支持、参与育儿行为；家庭凝聚力；家庭冲突；和家庭用餐频率）产生了明显的三分位数组，在每个家庭社会资本衡量标准上差异显著（<0.001），且效果量较大。方差分析和 Tukey 事后检验表明，家庭社会资本越高，母亲的健康、饮食摄入、身体活动和睡眠行为就越好。此外，在家庭社会资本较高的群体中，母亲对健康饮食和身体活动、儿童喂养习惯以及家庭环境的榜样作用更高。家庭社会资本较高的家庭中儿童的身心健康、身体活动和睡眠质量更好。研究结果表明，家庭社会资本越高，与更健康的体重相关行为和家庭环境相关。未来的干预研究应纳入建立家庭社会资本的策略，并将纵向结果与传统干预进行比较，以确定家庭社会资本对健康行为的相对价值。
