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ABSTRACT: The hypothesis of this study is twofold and states that parental socioeconomic status has an effect on the soft drink consumption of the child, and that this effect is mediated by the soft drink related parenting practices. One thousand six hundred and thirty-nine parents of 2.5-7 year old children from 34 Flemish pre-primary and primary schools, completed a self-administered questionnaire on sociodemographic characteristics, soft drink consumption and soft drink related parenting practices. Causal mediation analyses showed an effect of socioeconomic status on soft drink consumption of the child: children from high socioeconomic status consume 0.42 times the amount of soft drinks of children from lower socioeconomic status. Interestingly, this effect is almost entirely mediated by three soft drink parenting practices: soft drinks served at meals, the child can take soft drink whenever he or she wants and having soft drinks at home.
Appetite 04/2012; 59(1):76-80. · 2.59 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of a school-based, 2-year, multi-component intervention on BMI, eating and physical activity behaviour in Flanders, Belgium, targeting children aged 3-6 years in communities of high and low socio-economic status (SES). DESIGN: Cluster-randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Thirty-one pre-primary and primary schools in three different intervention communities and three paired-matched (on SES profile) control communities in Flanders, Belgium. SUBJECTS: BMI Z-scores at baseline and follow-up were calculated for 1102 children. Questionnaires with sociodemographic data and FFQ were available from 694 of these 1102 children. RESULTS: No significant effects were found on BMI Z-scores for the total sample. However, there was a significant decrease in BMI Z-score of 0·11 in the low-SES intervention community compared with the low-SES control community, where the BMI Z-score increased by 0·04 (F = 6·26, P = 0·01). No significant intervention effects could be found for eating behaviour, physical activity or screen-time. There were no significant interaction effects of age and gender of the children on the outcome variables. CONCLUSIONS: Although no significant effects were found for BMI Z-scores in the total sample, this intervention had a promising effect in the low-SES community of reducing excess weight gain among young children.
Public Health Nutrition 03/2012; · 2.17 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: In this study, physical activity (PA) was objectively measured in 213 Belgian preschoolers (M(age) = 4.98, SD = .88 years) over 4 consecutive days including two weekend days. Within-day variability in PA showed a typical activity pattern during weekdays and weekend days. Weekdays clearly reflected a preschool attending day with more peaks and troughs than weekend days and after-school hours were characterized by a decrease in activity. Between-day variability in PA was identified in preschool girls above the age of four, suggesting that the lack of a structured preschool environment is already related with a decrease in PA in this sex-specific age group. The results of this study are informative for the development of future PA interventions and indicate that both the preschool and the home environment should be targeted in the promotion of preschoolers' PA.
Pediatric exercise science 08/2011; 23(3):366-78. · 1.71 Impact Factor
