Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Dietary Patterns among Children

Abstract

Energy balance-related behavioral patterns find their origin in early childhood. The current paper provides an overview of studies that have examined such behavioral patterns, i.e., the clustering of dietary behaviors, physical activity, and/or sedentary behavior. The paper discusses the importance of examining energy balance-related behavioral patterns in children, outlines methods to examine these patterns, and provides examples of patterns that have been found (e.g., the universal sedentary-snacking and healthy intake patterns, as well as more unique or local patterns), child and parental characteristics predicting such patterns (e.g., child gender and maternal educational level), and the relationship of these patterns with overweight and related measures.

Keywords: Activity pattern; Behavioral pattern; Child; Cluster analysis; Clustering; Dietary intake; Dietary pattern; Eating routines; Energy balance; Factor analysis; Lifestyle pattern; Obesity; Overweight; Physical activity; Principal component analysis; Sedentary behavior.