Children's Obesogenic Behaviors During Summer Versus School: A Within‐Person Comparison

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Evidence consistently shows children in the United States gain 3 to 5 times more weight during summer vacation (∼2.5 months) compared to the 9-month school year. The purpose of this study is to examine within-child differences in 4 obesogenic behaviors (physical activity [PA], sedentary/screen-time, diet, and sleep) during school versus summer. METHODS:We used a repeated-measures within-subjects design. Children (N = 30 mean age = 8.2 years; 57% female; 37% overweight/obese; 100% African American) wore accelerometers on the nondominant wrist for 24 hr/d over 9 consecutive days during school and summer of 2016 to capture PA, sedentary time, and sleep. Parents completed a daily diary to report bed/wake times, diet, and screen-time of their child each day. Mixed-effect models compared summer and school behaviors. RESULTS:Children spent more time sedentary (69% vs 67% of wake wear time), less time in light PA (25% vs 23% of wake wear time), had higher screen-time (242 vs 123 minutes/day), slept longer (428 vs 413 minutes/night), and consumed more sugar-based foods (6 days vs 2.5 days/week) and fruit (7 days vs 4.7 days/week) during summer compared to school (p < .05). CONCLUSION:Initial evidence suggests children are displaying multiple unfavorable obesogenic behaviors during summer compared to school that may contribute to accelerated weight gain during summer.

The Impact of Summer Vacation on Children’s Obesogenic Behaviors and Body Mass Index: A natural experiment.

“…To our knowledge only three studies have examined within-participant differences in obesogenic behaviors between the school year and summer vacation. Even though these studies were relatively small, ranging from 14 to 89 participants, all found that children increased time sedentary over summer vacation (21,22,58), consistent with the current study. The two studies that examined changes in diet during the summer vacation produced mixed findings (22,58).…”

“…Even though these studies were relatively small, ranging from 14 to 89 participants, all found that children increased time sedentary over summer vacation (21,22,58), consistent with the current study. The two studies that examined changes in diet during the summer vacation produced mixed findings (22,58). One study found that children ate more fruit during the summer vacation (22) while the other found the opposite (58).…”

“…Parents/children estimated the total amount of time (hours and minutes) spent in front of a screen that day (e.g., TV, computer, video game, smartphone, and tablet) (43,44). Similar to past studies (22,45), healthy and unhealthy foods were assessed using the Beverage and Snack Questionnaire (46). Items were scored by four possible response categories: 0 ('child did not consume'), 1('child consumed a little'), 2('child consumed some'), and 3 ('child consumed a lot') with those individual items.…”

“…Few studies have examined children's obesogenic behaviors during summer vacation compared to the school year, however, studies that compare school to weekend days (i.e., typically less-structured) overwhelmingly support the SDH. Studies that have examined obesogenic behaviors in children during school compared to summer vacation are limited because they used between group designs, had limited samples sizes, and typically examined behaviors during summer vacation and the school year for one week or less (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22). Previous studies have also failed to consider that children's behaviors naturally fluctuate seasonally.…”

A playful introduction

“…Nonetheless, these are highly regulated contexts and can include restrictions such as heights for climbing that have a focus on injury prevention rather than children's engagement in play (Brussoni, Olsen, Pike, & Sleet, 2012;Van Rooijen & Newstead, 2017). Focus on these contexts alone is also not sufficient as research has started to reveal that children put on more weight during vacation periods (Von Hippel, Powell, Downey, & Rowland, 2007) and engage in more sedentary behaviours (Brazendale et al, 2018).…”