Gender differences in the pathways of family factors influencing children's oral health behaviours: a cross-sectional study of primary school students in Beijing, China

Abstract

Objective: Research on what family factors influence children's oral health behaviours (COHB) in developing countries is limited, and there have been no path analyses accounting for gender differences in these factors. Thus, our study evaluated gender differences in COHB including the influencing pathways of family factors in China.

Materials and methods: Through multistage cluster sampling, 915 pairs of mothers and children from six public elementary schools in Beijing completed self-administered questionnaires regarding COHB, parents' modelling behaviours (PMB), parents' controlling behaviours (PCB), parents' oral health knowledge and attitudes (PKA), and children's oral health knowledge and attitudes (CKA). The influencing factors were analysed using path analysis.

Results: Compared with boys, girls showed significantly better performance in drinking less carbonated drinks regularly (8.6% vs. 16.9%). For both genders, PMB shad a significant direct influence on COHB, while PKA had an indirect influence through PMB. In the boys' model, PKA indirectly influenced COHB through CKA. In the girls' model, socioeconomic status had a positive direct effect on COHB.

Conclusions: The gender differences were not as large as expected. Given that slightly different influential factors for COHB exist between boys and girls, interventions should take note of the similarities and differences in pathways.

Keywords: Determinants; gender differences; oral health behaviour.