Individual-, home- and preschool-level correlates of preschool children’s sedentary time

Abstract Background Prechoolers’ significant portions of sedentary time (ST) is a public-health concern due to its high prevalence and negative health consequences. However, few studies have explored correlates of preschoolers’ ST covering individual-, home- and preschool- factors within one study. The aim of this study was to identify the associations between multiple individual-, home- and preschool-level factors and preschoolers’ ST. In addition, it was studied how much individual-, home- and preschool-level factors explained the variance in children’s ST. Methods A total of 864 children aged three to six, their parents and 66 preschools participated in the cross-sectional DAGIS study, which occurred between 2015 and 2016. The children wore an accelerometer for 1 week. Guardians, principals and early educators completed questionnaires covering the potential correlates of children’s ST, for example, temperament, practices, self-efficacy and regulations. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted in multiple steps; calculation of marginal and conditional R2 values occurred in the final phase. Results Of the 29 studied correlates, the following factors remained significant in the final models. Being a boy (p