Associations between parental and pre-adolescents' physical activity and diet quality: The role of parental child care involvement and child's sex

BACKGROUND: Research has demonstrated the importance of the family environment in the eating and activity levels of offspring. We examined the cross-sectional associations between moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and diet quality of parents and the MVPA and diet quality of pre-adolescents. Interactions were tested to assess whether the child's sex and the parental level of involvement in daily child care moderated these associations.

METHODS: Data from 2467 pre-adolescents (age 11.5 ± 0.2 years; collected in 2015-2016) and their parents or caregivers from a large-scale prospective birth cohort study in Amsterdam (ABCD-study) was used. Parents and pre-adolescents individually reported their diet quality and physical activity. Child care involvement was assessed using the Caregiver Child Interaction Scale. With hierarchical linear regression analyses, we assessed the independent contribution of fathers and mothers.

RESULTS: An association between mother-child MVPA was found (β = 0.013; 95 % CI: 0.006;0.021). The association between father-child MVPA was only significant for highly involved fathers (β = 0.014; 95 % CI: 0.004;0.023). The child's sex did not change these MVPA associations. Regarding diet quality, associations were found between mother-child diet quality score (DQS) (β = 0.254; 95 % CI: 0.192;0.316) and father-child DQS, with stronger associations between fathers and sons (β = 0.234; 95 % CI: 0.169;0.298) than between fathers and daughters (β = 0.114; 95 % CI: 0.047;0.181). Parental levels of involvement did not change these associations.

CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that both parental behaviours represent an important factor in physical activity and diet quality in pre-adolescents in a sex-specific manner. As such, it is essential to include both parents in research to obtain the necessary insights for developing effective interventions to promote children's healthy eating and physical activity behaviours.