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Our research aims to investigate the approaches that Greek parents use to raise their children's environmental awareness. The study, conducted via closed-type questionnaires, focused on 435 parents with children attending the last grade of primary school in the greater Athens urban area. The results indicate that parents accept environmental awareness as a particularly important factor in the development of their children's character. They also claim that their daily actions help to raise their children's environmental awareness. On the basis of their responses on their daily actions, five groups of parents were identified using cluster analysis. The actions of the groups cover all the ranges, from being strongly consistent to being indifferent. The results also indicate that highly educated, younger, female parents claim more environmentally friendly actions.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate excess body weight and abdominal obesity in relation to selected psychosocial characteristics such as self-perception, self-esteem and anxiety, in primary school children. Design/methodology/approach A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted with a total of 528 students 10-12 years of age, randomly selected, from the area of Athens, Greece. The Greek versions of the self-perception profile for children (SPPC) and the state-trait anxiety inventory for children (STAI-C) questionnaires have been used to determine the children’s self-perception/self-esteem and the status of anxiety, respectively. Standard anthropometric measurements were also taken. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to test for possible linear correlations between data variables. One-way ANOVA and independent t-test were used to determine statistically significant differences between the means of children’s body mass index (BMI) – abdominal obesity groups. For multiple comparisons, Bonferroni post-tests were run. Findings Overweight and obese children and children with abdominal obesity had lower scores in all of the domains of SPPC self-perception, the SPPC global self-esteem and the STAI-C anxiety levels in comparison to normal weight children. BMI and abdominal obesity correlated negatively with each one of the five domains of the SPPC self-perception (p < 0.001) and the SPPC global self-esteem (p < 0.001) and positively with the STAI-C anxiety levels (p < 0.005). One-way ANOVA and independent t-test revealed statistically significant differences between the means of children’s BMI and abdominal obesity groups in all the domains of SPPC self-perception (p < 0.001), the SPPC global self-esteem (p < 0.001) and the STAI-C anxiety levels (p < 0.005). There were no gender differences in the psychometric characteristics assessed in this study. Originality/value Primary school children with excess body weight and abdominal obesity have increased anxiety levels and they score lower in key psychosocial characteristics, in comparison to normal weight children.

The rapid increase in obesity prevalence continues to be a leading public health problem (1,2) . The aim of the study was to explore selected behaviours and lifestyle patterns associated with increased BMI in Greek primary school children. A total of 528 students (256 boys; 272 girls), 10-12 years old, were recruited from 21 primary schools in the area of Athens, Greece. Standard anthropometric measurements were taken and obesity was assessed using the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) cut off points. Students completed a specifically designed energy balance behaviours questionnaire together with the KIDMED index, which evaluates the degree of adherence to the MD (3) . The prevalence of overweight and obesity in was 33.6 % (37.5 % in boys & 29.8 % in girls). The level of adherence to the MD was "good" in 43.8 % of the children, "average" in 51.9 % and "poor" in 4.4%. After controlling for social-demographics factors, multiple regression analysis revealed that number of meals with family (b = -0.124, P = 0.004), physical activity (b = -0.161, P < 0.001), time spent on video -internet games (b = 0.131, P = 0.004), self esteem (b = -0.107, P = 0.013) and parent's BMI (b = 0.204, P < 0.001)