IEyeNews

iLocal News Archives

The role of fathers in overweight prevention: an analysis of a Caribbean cohort

Abstract

BackgroundFamily-based strategies to reduce the risk of overweight in childhood are needed in the Caribbean.

AimTo investigate the associations between parental characteristics and risk of overweight and explore possible mechanisms.

MethodsData from a parenting intervention were analysed. Parental characteristics were obtained by questionnaire at enrolment. At 18 months, 501 infants (82.9% of cohort) had weight and length measured using standardized methods. The association of parents’ characteristics with risk of infant overweight was assessed using random-effects logistic regression. Four focus groups among mothers in Jamaica were conducted to explore mechanisms.

ResultsOverall, 20.6% of infants were ‘at risk of overweight’. Fathers were present in 52% of households. Fathers’ presence [OR (95% CI) 0.60 (0.37–0.96)] was associated with reduced risk of overweight independent of socioeconomic status. Mothers reported that fathers encouraged healthier practices.

ConclusionFathers may be important agents of change in intervention strategies to prevent childhood overweight.

Copyright
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Corresponding author
Author for correspondence: Joanne A. Smith, E-mail: [email protected]
References
Hide All
1.de Onis, M, Blossner, M and Borghi, E (2010) Global prevalence and trends of overweight and obesity among preschool children. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 92, 12571264.CrossRef | Google Scholar | PubMed
2.Ng, M, Fleming, T, Robinson, M, Thomson, B, Graetz, N, Margono, C, Mullany, EC, Biryukov, S, Abbafati, C,Abera, SF, Abraham, JP, Abu-Rmeileh, NM, Achoki, T, AlBuhairan, FS, Alemu, ZA, Alfonso, R, Ali, MK, Ali, R,Guzman, NA, Ammar, W, Anwari, P, Banerjee, A, Barquera, S, Basu, S, Bennett, DA, Bhutta, Z, Blore, J, Cabral, N,Nonato, IC, Chang, JC, Chowdhury, R, Courville, KJ, Criqui, MH, Cundiff, DK, Dabhadkar, KC, Dandona, L, Davis, A,Dayama, A, Dharmaratne, SD, Ding, EL, Durrani, AM, Esteghamati, A, Farzadfar, F, Fay, DF, Feigin, VL, Flaxman, A,Forouzanfar, MH, Goto, A, Green, MA, Gupta, R, Hafezi-Nejad, N, Hankey, GJ, Harewood, HC, Havmoeller, R, Hay,S, Hernandez, L, Husseini, A, Idrisov, BT, Ikeda, N, Islami, F, Jahangir, E, Jassal, SK, Jee, SH, Jeffreys, M, Jonas, JB,Kabagambe, EK, Khalifa, SE, Kengne, AP, Khader, YS, Khang, YH, Kim, D, Kimokoti, RW, Kinge, JM, Kokubo, Y,Kosen, S, Kwan, G, Lai, T, Leinsalu, M, Li, Y, Liang, X, Liu, S, Logroscino, G, Lotufo, PA, Lu, Y, Ma, J, Mainoo, NK,Mensah, GA, Merriman, TR, Mokdad, AH, Moschandreas, J, Naghavi, M, Naheed, A, Nand, D, Narayan, KM,Nelson, EL, Neuhouser, ML, Nisar, MI, Ohkubo, T, Oti, SO, Pedroza, A, Prabhakaran, D, Roy, N, Sampson, U, Seo,H, Sepanlou, SG, Shibuya, K, Shiri, R, Shiue, I, Singh, GM, Singh, JA, Skirbekk, V, Stapelberg, NJ, Sturua, L, Sykes,BL, Tobias, M, Tran, BX, Trasande, L, Toyoshima, H, van de Vijver, S, Vasankari, TJ, Veerman, JL, Velasquez-Melendez, G, Vlassov, VV, Vollset, SE, Vos, T, Wang, C, Wang, X, Weiderpass, E, Werdecker, A, Wright, JL, Yang, YC,Yatsuya, H, Yoon, J, Yoon, SJ, Zhao, Y, Zhou, M, Zhu, S, Lopez, AD, Murray, CJ and Gakidou, E (2014) Global, regional, and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980–2013: a systematic analysis for the global burden of Disease study 2013. The Lancet 384, 766781.CrossRef | Google Scholar | PubMed
3.Black, RE, Victora, CG, Walker, SP, Bhutta, ZA, Christian, P, de Onis, M, Ezzati, M, Grantham-McGregor, S, Katz, J,Martorell, R, Uauy, R and Maternal Child Nutrition Study Group (2013) Maternal and child undernutrition and overweight in low-income and middle-income countries. The Lancet 382, 427451.CrossRef | Google Scholar | PubMed
4.Rodgers, RF, Paxton, SJ, Massey, R, Campbell, KJ, Wertheim, EH, Skouteris, H and Gibbons, K (2013) Maternal feeding practices predict weight gain and obesogenic eating behaviors in young children: a prospective study.The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 10, 24.CrossRef | Google Scholar | PubMed
5.Gibson, LY, Byrne, SM, Davis, EA, Blair, E, Jacoby, P and Zubrick, SR (2007) The role of family and maternal factors in childhood obesity. Medical Journal of Australia 186, 591595.Google Scholar | PubMed
6.Gerald, LB, Anderson, A, Johnson, GD, Hoff, C and Trimm, RF (1994) Social class, social support and obesity risk in children. Child: Care, Health and Development 20, 145163.Google Scholar | PubMed
7.Lamerz, A, Kuepper-Nybelen, J, Wehle, C, Bruning, N, Trost-Brinkhues, G, Brenner, H, Hebebrand, J andHerpertz-Dahlmann, B (2005) Social class, parental education, and obesity prevalence in a study of six-year-old children in Germany. International Journal of Obesity 29, 373380.CrossRef | Google Scholar
8.Hawkins, SS, Cole, TJ, Law, C and Millennium Cohort Study Child Health Group (2009) An ecological systems approach to examining risk factors for early childhood overweight: findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 63, 147155.CrossRef | Google Scholar | PubMed
9.Schmeer, KK (2012) Family structure and obesity in early childhood. Social Science Research 41: 820832.CrossRef | Google Scholar | PubMed
10.CARPHA (2014) Safeguarding Our Future Development – Plan of Action for Promoting Healthy Weights in the Caribbean: Prevention and Control of Childhood Obesity. Trinidad: Caribbean Public Health Agency, pp. 135.Google Scholar
11.PIOJ and STATIN (2014) Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions. Jamaica: The Planning Institute of Jamaica and The Statistical Institute of Jamaica.Google Scholar
12.Chang, SM, Grantham-McGregor, SM, Powell, CA, Vera-Hernandez, M, Lopez-Boo, F, Baker-Henningham, Hand Walker, SP (2015) Integrating a parenting intervention with routine primary health care: a cluster randomized trial. Pediatrics 136, 272280.CrossRef | Google Scholar | PubMed
13.Radloff, L (1977) The CES-D Scale: a self report depression scale for research in the general population.Applied Psychological Measurement 1, 385401.CrossRef | Google Scholar
14.Dunn, LM and Dunn, DM (2007) Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, 4th Edn. San Antonio, Texas: Pearson.Google Scholar
15.Criss, S, Woo Baidal, JA, Goldman, RE, Perkins, M, Cunningham, C and Taveras, EM (2015) The role of health information sources in decision-making among Hispanic mothers during their children’s first 1000 days of life.Maternal and Child Health Journal 19, 25362543.CrossRef | Google Scholar | PubMed
16.de Onis, M, Garza, C, Victora, CG, Onyango, AW, Frongillo, EA and Martines, J (2004) The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study: planning, study design, and methodology. Food and Nutrition Bulletin 25(Suppl. 1),S15S26.CrossRef | Google Scholar | PubMed
17.Walker, SP, Chang, SM and Powell, CA (2007) The association between early childhood stunting and weight status in late adolescence. International Journal of Obesity 31, 347352.CrossRef | Google Scholar | PubMed
18.Woo Baidal, JA, Criss, S, Goldman, RE, Perkins, M, Cunningham, C and Taveras, EM (2015) Reducing Hispanic children’s obesity risk factors in the first 1000 days of life: a qualitative analysis. Journal of Obesity 2015, 945918.CrossRef | Google Scholar | PubMed
19.Keane, E, Layte, R, Harrington, J, Kearney, PM and Perry, IJ (2012) Measured parental weight status and familial socio-economic status correlates with childhood overweight and obesity at age 9. PLoS ONE 7, e43503.CrossRef | Google Scholar | PubMed
20.Zahra, J, Sebire, SJ and Jago, R (2015) ‘He’s probably more Mr. sport than me’ – a qualitative exploration of mothers’ perceptions of fathers’ role in their children’s physical activity. BMC Pediatrics 15, 101.CrossRef | Google Scholar
21.Tanner, C, Petersen, A and Fraser, S (2014) Food, fat and family: thinking fathers through mothers’ words.Women’s Studies International Forum 44, 209219.CrossRef | Google Scholar
22.Baker-Henningham, H, Powell, C, Walker, S and Grantham-McGregor, S (2003) Mothers of undernourished Jamaican children have poorer psychosocial functioning and this is associated with stimulation provided in the home. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 57, 786792.CrossRef | Google Scholar | PubMed
23.Surkan, PJ, Kennedy, CE, Hurley, KM and Black, MM (2011) Maternal depression and early childhood growth in developing countries: systematic review and meta-analysis. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 89, 608615.CrossRef | Google Scholar | PubMed
IMAGE:Daily Mail

LEAVE A RESPONSE

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *