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. 2019 Nov 4;16(1):100.
doi: 10.1186/s12966-019-0864-8.

Do physical activity and screen time mediate the association between European fathers' and their children's weight status? Cross-sectional data from the Feel4Diabetes-study

Julie Latomme  1 , Nele Huys  2 , Greet Cardon  2 , Philip J Morgan  3 , Mina Lateva  4 , Nevena Chakarova  5 , Jemina Kivelä  6 , Jaana Lindström  6 , Odysseas Androutsos  7 , Esther M González-Gil  8 , Pilar De Miguel-Etayo  8 , Anna Nánási  9 , László R Kolozsvári  9 , Yannis Manios  7 , Marieke De Craemer  2 ; Feel4Diabetes-study group
Collaborators, Affiliations

Do physical activity and screen time mediate the association between European fathers' and their children's weight status? Cross-sectional data from the Feel4Diabetes-study

Julie Latomme et al. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. .

Abstract

Background: Most research on parenting and childhood obesity and obesity-related behaviours has focused on mothers while fathers have been underrepresented. Yet, recent literature has suggested that fathers uniquely influence their children's lifestyle behaviours, and hence could also affect their weight status, but this has not yet been scientifically proven. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine whether the association between fathers' weight status and their children's weight status is mediated by fathers' and children's movement behaviours (i.e. physical activity (PA) and screen time (ST)).

Methods: Cross-sectional data of 899 European fathers and their children were analyzed. Fathers/male caregivers (mean age = 43.79 ± 5.92 years, mean BMI = 27.08 ± 3.95) completed a questionnaire assessing their own and their children's (mean age = 8.19 ± 0.99 years, 50.90% boys, mean BMIzscore = 0.44 ± 1.07) movement behaviours. Body Mass Index (BMI, in kg/m2) was calculated based on self-reported (fathers) and objectively measured (children) height and weight. For children, BMI z-scores (SD scores) were calculated to obtain an optimal measure for their weight status. Serial mediation analyses were performed using IBM SPSS 25.0 Statistics for Windows to test whether the association between fathers' BMI and children's BMI is mediated by fathers' PA and children's PA (model 1) and fathers' ST and children's ST (model 2), respectively.

Results: The present study showed a (partial) mediation effect of fathers' PA and children's PA (but not father's ST and children's ST) on the association between fathers' BMI and children's BMI (model for PA; coefficient: 0.001, 95% CI: [0.0001, 0.002]; model for ST; coefficient: 0.001, 95% CI: [0.000, 0.002]). Furthermore, fathers' movement behaviours (PA and ST) were positively associated with their children's movement behaviours (PA and ST) (model for PA, coefficient: 0.281, SE: 0.023, p < 0.001; model for ST, coefficient: 0.345, SE: 0.025, p < 0.001).

Conclusions: These findings indicate that the influence of fathers on their children's weight status partially occurs through the association between fathers' PA and children's PA (but not their ST). As such, intervening by focusing on PA of fathers but preferably of both members of the father-child dyad (e.g. engaging fathers and their children in co-PA) might be a novel and potentially effective strategy for interventions aiming to prevent childhood overweight and obesity. Longitudinal studies or intervention studies confirming these findings are however warranted to make meaningful recommendations for health intervention and policy.

Trial registration: The Feel4Diabetes-study is registered with the clinical trials registry http://clinicaltrials.gov , ID: 643708 .

Keywords: Children; Fathers; Intervention; Obesity; Physical activity; Screen time behaviour; Sedentary behaviour.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow diagram of participants throughout the study
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The serial mediation models. Each model with two mediators (M1 and M2) in each model; PA of the father and PA the child in model 1, and ST of the father and ST of the child in model 2. Path a1 represents the effect of BMI of the father on M1, path a2 represents the effect of BMI of the father on M2, path a3 represents the effect of M1 on M2. Path b1 and path b2 represent the effect of respectively M1 and M2 on BMI of the child. Path c represents the total effect of BMI of the father on BMI of the child, and path c’ is the direct effect of BMI of the father on BMI of the child
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Model 1 of the serial mediation analysis. The association between BMI of the father and BMI of the child through respectively PA of the father (M1) and PA of the child (M2), with each pathway in the serial mediation model. Each arrow with a solid line represents a significant path between variables, an arrow with a dashed line represents a non-significant path. The estimated coefficients are unstandardized. Note. *p-value is significant at the 0.05 level, **p-value is significant at the 0.01 level, ***p-value is significant at the 0.001 level, NSnon-significant p-value
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Model 2 of the serial mediation analyses. The association between BMI of the father and BMI of the child through respectively ST of the father (M1) and ST of the child (M2), with each pathway in the serial mediation model. Each arrow with a solid line represents a significant path between variables, an arrow with a dashed line represents a non-significant path. The estimated coefficients are unstandardized. Note. *p-value is significant at the 0.05 level, **p-value is significant at the 0.01 level, ***p-value is significant at the 0.001 level, NSnon-significant p-value
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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