Reducing rates of overweight and obesity in children remains a prominent public health priority. Parents have been shown to be a major influence on their children’s weight-related behaviors and weight status, but limited research has been devoted to exploring the factors that lead parents to select certain weight-related parenting practices over another. Past research has demonstrated a link between weight stigma (i.e., prejudicial attitudes or discriminatory behavior targeted at individuals who carry excess weight) and an individual’s own weight-related behaviors and outcomes, but no study has examined how parental levels of weight stigma may affect weight-related parenting practices. The primary objective of this study was to examine the cross-sectional associations between parental levels of weight-based stigmatization with parental feeding practices and parental support for physical activity. Responses were collected on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk website for n = 406 parents who 1) had at least one child aged 5-10 and 2) perceived themselves to be overweight or obese. After adjusting for relevant covariates, parental weight stigma was shown to be significantly associated with restrictive feeding practices, verbal modeling of eating behaviors, unintentional modeling of eating behaviors, child unhealthy snack consumption, and explicit modeling of physical activity (all ps < .05). A priori exploratory mediation analysis identified concern about child weight as a significant mediator between weight stigma and parental feeding practices. A discussion of the potential limitations of this study, future directions of research, and implications of these findings are included.

Objectives The primary objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the video-based smartphone app ‘VIDEA bewegt’ over eight programme weeks on physical activity in German adults. - Design The study used a single-arm observational design, assessing the app’s effectiveness under real-life conditions. Data were collected from July 2019 to July 2020. - Setting The app is enabling users to access video-based educational content via their smartphone. A clinical visit or in-person contact was not required. Participants All individuals registered in the freely available app were invited to take part in the study. - Interventions The app aims to increase physical activity in everyday life. It combines educative videos on lifestyle-related benefits and instructional videos of strength and endurance exercises to do at home with motivational components like goal setting, documentation of progress and personalised messages. - Primary and secondary outcome measures Primary outcomes were physical activity based one MET minutes per week (metabolic equivalent) and step numbers. Secondary outcomes included physical self-efficacy (motivational, maintenance, recovery self-efficacy), health-related quality of life: Mental Health Component Summary score and Physical Health Component Summary score. - Results Of 97 people included in the data analysis, 55 successfully completed the programme and all questionnaires. Significant increases over eight programme weeks (between T0 and T2) were observed in physical activity based on MET minutes per week, health-related quality of life, and recovery self-efficacy. Time spent sitting and body mass index significantly decreased for those completing the programme. Conclusions Although significant benefits of physical activity were observed following a complete-case analysis, results should be dealt with caution. Studies with a larger and less heterogeneous sample and robust study designs able to measure causal effects would be desirable. Trial registration number DRKS00017392.