Differences in Home Food and Activity Environments Between Obese and Healthy Weight Families of Preschool Children

Obesity among children aged 25 years in the United States has been determined to be 12.1%, twice the rate 50 years ago (Kuczmarski, Ogden, Grummer-Strawn, et al,2000:, C.L. Ogden, M.D. Carroll, B.K. Kit, K.M. Flegal 2010).The causes of obesity include behavior, the environment, and genetics (Ebbeling, Pawlak, Ludwig, 2002). Treating obesity in children involves different social and behavioral components (B.A. Spear, S.E. Barlow, C. Ervin, et al.2007; D.E. Wilfley, Tibbs, Van Buren, Reach, Walker, Epstein,2007). Family interventions such as diet monitoring, management of contingencies, setting of goals, and change in diets have been encouraged but factors such as the type of food in homes have not been considered (Swinburn, Egger, Raza, 1999). The home environment of the children has been determined to relate to diets, change in behavior, and the physical activities of the children (Story, Kaphingst, Robinson-O'Brien, Glanz2007: Saelens, Sallis, Nader, Broyles, Berry, Taras,2002: Cullen, Baranowski, Owens, Marsh, Rittenberry, Moor 2003: Neumark-Sztainer, Wall, Perry, Story, 2003:, Brown, Pfeiffer, McIver, Dowda, Addy, Pate, 2009). Children in the preschool eat in child care and also at home and this is the basis of the study which compares the intake of calories in these settings.

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This project examines the validity of measuring the differences between home food and home environment based on the view of caregivers and the weight of children. The hypotheses of the study was that in homes where caregivers and preschoolers are obese, there would be unhealthy diets, there would less amount of fruits and vegetables, there would be a large number of electronic devices, and there would be no enough physical activity devices.

Through measurement instruments and review of literature, home food, and activity devices were analyzed (Brown, Pfeiffer, McIver, Dowda, Addy, Pate, 2009:Sallis, Johnson, Calfas, Caparosa, Nichols, 1997:, Terry, Beck,1985: Rosenberg, Sallis, J. Kerr, et al, 2010: K.J. Campbell, Crawford, Ball, 2012:, D. Ding, J.F. Sallis, G.J. Norman, et al., 2012). 23 diets were analyzed based on different factors. Green foods were the healthy foods while red foods were unhealthy (Epstein, Valoski, Wing, McCurley, (1994). The diets were categorized under; fruits and vegetables, and healthy foods, unhealthy drinks, and unhealthy food.

82 families with children between the ages of 2 and 5.9 years were used in the study and were chosen from weight loss intervention programs, willing family members, and employees of local hospitals. The selection was based on age, family income, and race.

The use of MANOVA to determine the availability of fruits and vegetables had impacts on, Wilks' l = .89, F (2, 79) = 4.65, P = .01, partial i2 = 0.10. The use of ANOVA showed families with obese children did not have vegetables in their homes [F (1, 80) = 8.22, P = .005]. The use MANOVA to determine accessibility of fruits and vegetables showed a non-significant main effect for group, Wilks' l = .93, F (2, 68) = 4.46, P = .09, partial i2 = .07. An analysis of the same using the ANOVA showed that families with obese children did not have fruits and vegetables in their homes [F (1, 69) = 4.94, P < .03]. The fruits and vegetables were available but could not be accessed by these families. The use of MANOVA to measure the readiness of eating fruits and vegetables was non-significant (P > .05) for group differences.

Measurement of the homes as a whole showed no significant differences (all P > .05) on the number of televisions, video games, or computers between groups. The use of chi-square to examine the bedroom of children indicated that televisions were likely (P < .001) to be in the bedroom of obese children (37.1%) as compared to healthy children (12.8%, kh2 [4, N = 82] = 88.51). Obese children also had significantly (P < .05) few number of physical activity devices (t [79] = 2.00). The healthy children had water and snow play as physical activity devices (P < .002) as compared to the obese children (kh2 [1, N = 82] = 9.39).

There was no proper representation of obese children and this may have affected the conclusions. Other characteristics should be included in the study.

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