acase@tulane.edu / 1 / Kristin Scott

Background: Research concerning child's food intake have considered various influencing factors, for example parental feeding strategies, demographic and weight factors. At this time, however, there are few findings that explore these factors simultaneously. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to test a structural equation model regarding the associations between maternal feeding strategies and child's food intake. Methods: 556 mothers and their children between 1 and 10 years of age participated in this crosssectional study. Besides socio-demographic and weight data, the mothers were asked about their feeding strategies as well as their child's food intake. Results: The well-fitting model explained 73% of the variance in the child's consumption of healthy and 34% of unhealthy food. In addition to the effect of the mother's social status and the child's age, a rewarding and modeling feeding behavior significantly influenced the child's food intake. Conclusion: The results highlight the relevance of maternal feeding behavior on the child's food intake. In terms of preventing eating- or weight-related problems, the findings indicate the usefulness of training parents in explicit modeling behavior and avoiding food as a reward.

The purpose of this study was two-fold: (a) to identify, in a large representative sample of Canadian children, the age-related trajectories of overweight and obesity from toddlerhood into childhood and (b) to investigate the associations between these trajectories and children’s temperaments, their parents’ parenting practices and their interactions. Potentially important familial characteristics (i.e., the parents’ or surrogates’ age, income level, and educational attainment) were considered in the models. The sample for this study was drawn from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). Group-based mixture modeling analyses were conducted to identify the number and types of distinct trajectories in the development of obesity (i.e., to explicate the developmental processes in the variability of childhood obesity) in a representative sample of children who were between 24 to 35 months of age, at baseline, and followed biennially over a 6-year span. Discriminant analysis was conducted to assess the theoretical notion of goodness-of-fit between parenting practices and children’s temperament, and their association with membership in the BMI trajectory groups. The results of the group-based modeling established three different BMI trajectories for the boys, namely: stable-normal BMI, transient-high BMI, and j-curve obesity. The analyses revealed four different trajectories of BMI change for the girls: stable-normal BMI, early-declining BMI, late-declining BMI, and accelerating rise to obesity. The multivariate analysis revealed that the combined predictors of the obesity trajectories of the girls (group membership) included having a fussy temperament, ineffective parenting, and parents’ educational attainment. Predictors of the boys’ obesity trajectory (group membership) included household income, parental education, and effective parenting practices. Understanding the different ways in which a child may develop obesity will allow nurses and other health professionals to take different approaches in the assessment, intervention and evaluation of obesity and obesity-related health problems. The results of this study further our understanding of factors associated with the development of obesity at a young age and hence may inform the development of early preventive programs.

The purpose of this study was two-fold: (a) to identify, in a large representative sample of Canadian children, the age-related trajectories of overweight and obesity from toddlerhood into childhood and (b) to investigate the associations between these trajectories and children’s temperaments, their parents’ parenting practices and their interactions. Potentially important familial characteristics (i.e., the parents’ or surrogates’ age, income level, and educational attainment) were considered in the models. The sample for this study was drawn from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). Group-based mixture modeling analyses were conducted to identify the number and types of distinct trajectories in the development of obesity (i.e., to explicate the developmental processes in the variability of childhood obesity) in a representative sample of children who were between 24 to 35 months of age, at baseline, and followed biennially over a 6-year span. Discriminant analysis was conducted to assess the theoretical notion of goodness-of-fit between parenting practices and children’s temperament, and their association with membership in the BMI trajectory groups. The results of the group-based modeling established three different BMI trajectories for the boys, namely: stable-normal BMI, transient-high BMI, and j-curve obesity. The analyses revealed four different trajectories of BMI change for the girls: stable-normal BMI, early-declining BMI, late-declining BMI, and accelerating rise to obesity. The multivariate analysis revealed that the combined predictors of the obesity trajectories of the girls (group membership) included having a fussy temperament, ineffective parenting, and parents’ educational attainment. Predictors of the boys’ obesity trajectory (group membership) included household income, parental education, and effective parenting practices. Understanding the different ways in which a child may develop obesity will allow nurses and other health professionals to take different approaches in the assessment, intervention and evaluation of obesity and obesity-related health problems. The results of this study further our understanding of factors associated with the development of obesity at a young age and hence may inform the development of early preventive programs.

Prosocial behaviour is an important building block of children's future social relationships and overall life achievement. The purpose of this study is to increase our knowledge of how various social pathways influence the developmental trajectories of prosocial behaviour in children between the age of 4 and 11. Conceptually, this study rests on the family stress model and its mediating effects, augmented by parental perceptions of neighbourhood social relationships moderating those family pathways. Research is conducted using data from Statistics Canada's National Longitudinal Survey on Children and Youth (NLSCY), and latent growth models (LGM) in four parenting domains: positive interaction, effectiveness, consistency, and rationality. The study supports the hypothesis that family pathways, such as parental depression, family dysfunction, and parenting practices, mediate the relationship between family SES and children's prosocial development. Study findings also demonstrate the important direct effect sizes of all parenting practices on children's prosocial growth. Results suggest that the magnitude of the direct effects of parenting practices on prosocial behaviour, which are non-negligible and positive, are to a great extent negatively affected by the variables defined in the family stress model. Moreover, this research provides new insights about the types of moderation, and the focus of these moderating effects on the family stress model. Thus, findings support the hypothesis that parents' perceptions of neighbourhood cohesion and social support mitigate one or more family pathways more proximal to the child. Overall, this research study contributes in a distinctive manner to the current literature on children's prosocial behaviour development.

ABSTRACT Conduct problems are a common childhood mental health problem representing a significant proportion of young clients referred for occupational therapy. Children with conduct problems, especially the early onset subtype, can experience a difficult developmental trajectory and this can also impact family members, peers and the broader community. The contours of family life in Australia, and many other western countries, have changed dramatically over the last few decades. For example, we have witnessed a large increase in single parent households, a dramatic increase in maternal employment, declines in fertility rates to well below replacement level, delayed parenthood, and an increase in divorce rates. Consequently both parents and children must navigate a much more varied and in some cases more challenging and stressful set of life course choices and pathways than in the past. For some this will result in changes to parenting practices and children’s time use, potentially exposing children to a higher risk for developing conduct problems. While there is evidence to support the important role played by parents in this context, the relative impact of how and with whom children spend their time has not been closely examined. The aims of this study are to understand how young Australian children spend their time and to examine how children’s time use is related to their risk of developing conduct problems. More specifically it aims to investigate the social context of activities in which children are involved, the extent to which these activities involve physical exertion, structure, and rest and recuperative qualities in relation to conduct problems. In addition, children’s exposure to out-of-family care, differences in parenting practices and socioeconomic factors are also considered. The study is unique in having access to recent, high quality, national level Australian survey data that combines both detailed information on children’s time use, validated scales measuring children’s conduct problems, as well as a range of other variables necessary to accurately measure the relationships between them. These data come from the 4 to 5 year old child cohort from Wave 1 of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) survey. The LSAC is the first comprehensive national longitudinal study of Australian children and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA). The LSAC follows the lives of two cohorts of approximately 5,000 children each, an infant cohort (0-1 years old in Wave 1) and a child cohort (4-5 years old in Wave 1). This study examines the 4-5 year cohort only. A key strength of the LSAC is its use of time diaries to collect detailed information on children’s time use. It is the analyses of data from these diaries that is unique to the current study of conduct problems and allows the presentation of the first results that combine detailed measures of children’s time use with conduct disorder outcomes. First, descriptive analyses reveal the prevalence of children at risk of developing conduct problems, the variety of parenting practices and children’s time use profiles. Approximately 29% of Australian children aged 4 to 5 years are identified as being “at risk” of conduct problems. Parenting practices for children demonstrate high levels of warmth, reasoning, consistency, and low hostility. Children are reported to experience adequate amounts of sleep or rest, on average 11 hours per day. Over a quarter of children do not engage in moderate to vigorous physical activities, particularly on weekdays, over half do not engage in structured activities on weekdays and well over three-quarters do not engage in structured activities on weekends. Children are highly supervised by adults for approximately 10 hours a day either with or without the presence of peers during their waking hours, whereas almost three quarters of children do not spend time alone and over a half do not spend time with peers only. Second, two-way ANOVAs and random effects models are used to compare children’s time use by their experience of conduct problems. Results derived from the two-way ANOVAs indicate that children at risk of conduct problems spend significantly fewer hours being restful on weekdays, significantly more hours without peers under adult supervision on weekends and significantly fewer hours with peers under adult supervision on weekends than those not at risk. Results from the random effects models show that children at risk of developing conduct problems spend significantly more hours bike riding and significantly fewer hours being restful than those not at risk. Overall these results suggest that children at risk of conduct problems used time differently from those not at risk, particularly those aspects of time which are restful, involve bike riding, and in supervised social contexts. Third, chi-square tests and univariate logistic regression both affirm a higher risk of boys developing conduct problems (1.31 times more likely) than girls. Multivariate logistic regression with random effects is used to model the risk for developing conduct problems for boys and girls. The female model indicates that girls are at lower risk of conduct problems only if they are exposed to consistent and less hostile parenting practice and not have sleep problem reported by parents. The male model suggests that boys are vulnerable to more risk factors and are at lower risk of developing conduct problems if they have fathers who have completed tertiary education, are exposed to consistent and less hostile parenting, do not ride a bike on weekdays, spend less time in exercise on weekends, and do not have sleep problem reported by parents. Overall, the findings of this thesis lead to three main conclusions. First, males are at heightened risk for developing conduct problems and are subjected to more risk factors than girls. Second, parenting practice is affirmed in this thesis as the paramount predictor of risk for 4 to 5 year old children developing conduct problems. Third, the effects of time use depending on the innate quality and structure of activity are considered important for young children’s risk of developing conduct problems, and this is particularly pertinent for young boys. These results support the importance of family-centred services and time arrangements for activity participation when working with children at risk of or diagnosed with conduct problems. It also affirms the necessity to attend to parenting practices which may be described as hostile and inconsistent while at the same time highlighting the importance of fathers to their sons risk profile. These findings contribute to our understanding of children’s time use as a contributor to the behavioural wellbeing of children, especially young boys.

Background: Parents are an important influence on children's dietary intake and eating behaviors. However, the lack of a conceptual framework and inconsistent assessment of food parenting practices limits our understanding of which food parenting practices are most influential on children. The aim of this study was to develop a food parenting practice conceptual framework using systematic approaches of literature reviews and expert input. Method: A previously completed systematic review of food parenting practice instruments and a qualitative study of parents informed the development of a food parenting practice item bank consisting of 3632 food parenting practice items. The original item bank was further reduced to 110 key food parenting concepts using binning and winnowing techniques. A panel of 32 experts in parenting and nutrition were invited to sort the food parenting practice concepts into categories that reflected their perceptions of a food parenting practice conceptual framework. Multi-dimensional scaling produced a point map of the sorted concepts and hierarchical cluster analysis identified potential solutions. Subjective modifications were used to identify two potential solutions, with additional feedback from the expert panel requested. Results: The experts came from 8 countries and 25 participated in the sorting and 23 provided additional feedback. A parsimonious and a comprehensive concept map were developed based on the clustering of the food parenting practice constructs. The parsimonious concept map contained 7 constructs, while the comprehensive concept map contained 17 constructs and was informed by a previously published content map for food parenting practices. Most of the experts (52%) preferred the comprehensive concept map, while 35% preferred to present both solutions. Conclusion: The comprehensive food parenting practice conceptual map will provide the basis for developing a calibrated Item Response Modeling (IRM) item bank that can be used with computerized adaptive testing. Such an item bank will allow for more consistency in measuring food parenting practices across studies to better assess the impact of food parenting practices on child outcomes and the effect of interventions that target parents as agents of change.

The purpose of this study was two-fold: (a) to identify, in a large representative sample of Canadian children, the age-related trajectories of overweight and obesity from toddlerhood into childhood and (b) to investigate the associations between these trajectories and children’s temperaments, their parents’ parenting practices and their interactions. Potentially important familial characteristics (i.e., the parents’ or surrogates’ age, income level, and educational attainment) were considered in the models. The sample for this study was drawn from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). Group-based mixture modeling analyses were conducted to identify the number and types of distinct trajectories in the development of obesity (i.e., to explicate the developmental processes in the variability of childhood obesity) in a representative sample of children who were between 24 to 35 months of age, at baseline, and followed biennially over a 6-year span. Discriminant analysis was conducted to assess the theoretical notion of goodness-of-fit between parenting practices and children’s temperament, and their association with membership in the BMI trajectory groups. The results of the group-based modeling established three different BMI trajectories for the boys, namely: stable-normal BMI, transient-high BMI, and j-curve obesity. The analyses revealed four different trajectories of BMI change for the girls: stable-normal BMI, early-declining BMI, late-declining BMI, and accelerating rise to obesity. The multivariate analysis revealed that the combined predictors of the obesity trajectories of the girls (group membership) included having a fussy temperament, ineffective parenting, and parents’ educational attainment. Predictors of the boys’ obesity trajectory (group membership) included household income, parental education, and effective parenting practices. Understanding the different ways in which a child may develop obesity will allow nurses and other health professionals to take different approaches in the assessment, intervention and evaluation of obesity and obesity-related health problems. The results of this study further our understanding of factors associated with the development of obesity at a young age and hence may inform the development of early preventive programs. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Parenting practices are known to influence the development of children and family functioning. However, the extent to which these generational influences stretch, and the continuities brought forth between generations has not been adequately studied. Therefore, this study aimed to explore intergenerational parenting in Genadendal for the purpose of developing guidelines for parents and practitioners. The concept of parenting was extensively unpacked to understand the intergenerational transmitted parenting factors being transferred from one generation to the next, in order to examine the parenting styles, parenting practices, parenting traits, and how these are transmitted over generations.

Many family-based treatments for pediatric obesity teach specific parenting practices related to weight management. Although youth in these programs show increases in positive health behaviors and reductions in the extent to which they are overweight, most remain overweight after treatment. A recent trend is to create tailored programs for subgroups of families. We examine the possibility of tailoring based on family context, highlighting 3 aspects of family context that have been studied in relation to pediatric obesity: parenting style, family stress, and family emotional climate. We argue that family context may moderate treatment outcomes by altering the effectiveness of health-related parenting practices and discuss the implications of this argument for designing and evaluating tailored programs.