Abstract
Background:
Hispanic youth are less physically active and more sedentary than non-Hispanic youth, contributing to relatively high rates of obesity among the nation’s largest ethnic minority group. Though parents can influence children’s behavior, it is unclear whether parenting practices related to the child’s physical activity are associated with activity in Hispanic/Latino youth, and whether cultural and environmental contexts predict the use of these parenting practices.
Objective:
We assessed 1) whether activity-specific parenting practices (ASPPs) are associated with moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary activity among Hispanic/Latino youth, and 2) if higher parental acculturation and greater perceived neighborhood-level socioeconomic challenges are associated with the use of less effective ASPP patterns.
Methods:
Youth from the Hispanic Community Children’s Health Study/Study of Latino Youth (SOL Youth; n=976) were examined. Activity was assessed using 7-day accelerometer data. ASPPs were identified from the Parenting strategies for Eating and Activity Scale (PEAS) using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the ten items on activity. We used survey-weighted linear regression models to assess whether derived ASPPs predicted mean daily MVPA and sedentary time. K-means cluster analysis was used to group individuals based on ASPP use. Finally, we used survey-weighted multinomial logistic regression models to examine the association of parent acculturation-related measures and perceived neighborhood socioeconomic status and barriers to activity with ASPP cluster membership.
Results:
Factor analysis of the activity-specific PEAS items identified three ASPPs: Limit Setting, Discipline, and Monitoring/Reinforcement. Discipline predicted higher MVPA in females only (β 1.89 [95% CI 0.11-3.67]), and Monitoring/Reinforcement predicted higher MVPA in males only (β 4.71 [95% CI 0.68-8.74]). There was no association between Limit Setting and MVPA or any ASPPs and sedentary activity. K-cluster analysis revealed three ASPP patterns: Restrictive (high scores for Limit Setting and Discipline), Supportive (high scores for Limit Setting and Monitoring/Reinforcement) and Permissive (low score across ASPPs). Higher Anglo-orientation on the Brief ARSMA-II acculturation measure predicted membership in the Supportive compared to Permissive cluster (p= 0.03), while perceived neighborhood characteristics did not predict ASPP cluster membership.
Conclusions:
ASPPs are associated with MVPA in sex-specific ways but have no association with sedentary activity in Hispanic/Latino youth. Among acculturation and neighborhood characteristics, only Anglo-orientation predicted ASPPs patterns. More research is needed to understand how acculturation is influencing ASPPs and if ASPPs can be leveraged to change children’s activity.
