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Childhood experiences can influence mental health in adulthood. Parental addiction is a relatively common adverse experience in childhood. However, understanding of the relationship between parental addiction and levels of distress over the adult life course is incomplete.Data are from the National Population Health Survey longitudinal file (1994/1995 to 2010/2011). Sex-specific trajectories of psychological distress in relation to exposure to parental addiction in childhood were examined among Canadian adults from ages 18 to 74.Psychological distress levels decreased with age, but were consistently higher throughout the life course among individuals who experienced parental addiction in childhood, compared with those who did not. The gap in psychological distress scores by parental addiction status was wide in young adulthood, but narrowed as individuals aged.Exposure to parental addiction in childhood can be associated with psychological distress well into adulthood, but levels decrease over time.

Based on the results of Statistics Canada's 2006 Aboriginal Children's Survey, this article presents an overview of how often First Nations children living off reserve, Métis children and Inuit children aged 2 to 5 consume various types of food, including foods considered traditional or country among Aboriginal people. The frequency with which First Nations children living off reserve and Métis children consumed items from major food groups tended to be similar. While lower percentages of Inuit children were reported to regularly consume items from these food groups, relatively high percentages of Inuit children consumed traditional or country foods. Around two-thirds of all Aboriginal children ate fast food and processed foods at least once a week, and just over half had salty snacks, sweets and desserts at least once a day. Consumption patterns varied, depending on whether children lived in a Census Metropolitan Area/Census Agglomeration.

Physical inactivity is a global public health concern. The relationship between dependent children in the home and parental physical activity has not been quantified using objective measures, nor has the relative association of the physical activity levels of mothers and fathers been examined.To investigate the association of children of different ages in the home on two measures of parental physical activity: daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and likelihood of meeting the guideline of 150 minutes of MVPA per week accumulated in 10-minute bouts.Data were from the 2007-2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey (n=2315), and analyses were conducted between February and December 2011. MVPA was measured directly using accelerometry. Linear (minutes of MVPA) and logistic (meeting physical activity guidelines) regression models were performed to determine if the presence, number of children, or the age of the youngest child at home was associated with parental physical activity. All models were adjusted for parental age, marital status, household income, employment, and BMI.Mothers whose youngest child was aged6 years and fathers whose youngest was aged 6-11 years engaged in fewer minutes of daily MVPA than those without dependent children. Linear regression results identified that in comparison to those without children, women whose youngest child in the home was aged6 years participated in 7.7 minutes less activity per day (p=0.007) whereas men engaged in 5.7 fewer minutes per day, or 54 and 40 minutes per week less, respectively. Similarly, logistic regression analyses indicated that both women and men were less likely to meet guidelines if their youngest child in the home was aged6 years (OR=0.31, 95% CI=0.11, 0.87; OR=0.34, 95% CI=0.13, 0.93).The physical activity level of parents with young children present in the home was lower than that of those without children. Given the many physiologic, psychological, and social benefits of healthy active living, research efforts should continue to focus on strategies to encourage parents with young children to establish or re-engage in a physically active lifestyle, not only for their own health but to model healthy behavior for the next generation.