Parent-Reported Eating and Leisure-Time Activity Selection Patterns Related to Energy Balance in Preschool- and School-Aged Children

Objective: Compare parent-reported preschool- and school-aged children's eating and leisure-time activity patterns that are proposed to influence energy balance. Design: Cross-sectional investigation of children, 2 to 12 years, attending a well visit. Setting: Pediatric private practice/ambulatory pediatric clinic. Participants: One hundred seventy-four children: 49% preschool-aged, 54% female, 28% Hispanic, and 34% overweight or at risk for overweight. Variables Measured: Parent-reported eating/leisure-time behaviors. Height/weight from medical records. Analysis: Analyses of covariance/chi-square tests; significance at P less than or equal to 0.05. Results: By parents' report, preschool-aged children consumed more servings/day of low-fat dairy (2.1 +/- 1.6 vs 1.7 +/- 1.5; P less than 0.01), fewer servings/day of sweetened drinks (1.4 +/- 1.9 vs 2.2 +/- 2.6; P less than 0.01) and watched fewer hours/day of weekend TV (2.3 +/- 1. 3 vs 2.7 +/- 1.3; P less than 0.05) than school-aged children. Fewer preschool-aged children consumed salty (14.0% vs 26.1%; P less than 0.05) and sweet (16.3% vs. 29.5%; P less than 0.05) snack food daily, and a greater percentage regularly consumed dinner with a parent (93.0% vs 80.7%; P less than 0.05), as assessed by parent report. Conclusions and Implications: Parent-reported children's eating/leisure-time patterns that may influence energy balance were less healthful in the school-aged children. However, most children did not meet recommendations, irrespective of age or weight. Interventions for meeting recommendations should start with families with preschool-aged children. Future research should focus on identifying factors that might be contributing to increased reporting of problematic food and leisure-time activity patterns in school-aged children. (Contains 3 tables.)