Household chaos, family routines, and young child movement behaviors in the U.S. during the COVID-19 outbreak: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background The home environment is an important facilitator of young child movement behaviors, including physical activity (PA), sleep, and screen-time. Household chaos, characterized by crowding, noise, and disorder in the home, may hinder efforts to obtain adequate amounts of movement behaviors. The COVID-19 outbreak impacted many families, and social distancing during this time may create conditions for more household chaos. Family routines can help establish order in the home and encourage an appropriate balance of movement behaviors, such as less screen-time and more sleep. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between household chaos and young child movement behaviors during the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, and the role of family routines in this relationship. Methods A national online survey including 1836 mothers of preschoolers (3.0–5.9 years) was conducted during May 2020. Mothers reported demographic characteristics, household chaos, family routines, and the preschooler’s movement behaviors during the outbreak. Mothers completed a household chaos questionnaire and were grouped into chaos categories (low, moderate/low, moderate/high, and high) for analysis. Linear regression was used to assess the association between chaos category, family routines, and movement behaviors with adjustment for covariates. Results Mothers were 35.9 ± 4.1 years of age, middle income (47.8%), and preschoolers were 3.8 ± 0.8 years of age. Most mothers reported their preschooler was less physically active (38.9%), slept the same amount of time (52.1%), and increased their screen-time (74.0%) after the COVID-19 outbreak. Preschoolers in the high chaos households performed less total PA (β = − 0.36 days/week, 95% CI:-0.62 to − 0.09, p = 0.008), slept less (β = − 0.42 h, 95% CI:-0.59 to − 0.25, p = 0.001) and had more screen-time (β = 0.69 h, 95% CI:0.45 to 0.92, p = 0.001) compared to those in low chaos households. In most chaos categories, having a bed-time ritual was related to more child sleep, and mothers who viewed routines as “less/not important” reported more preschooler screen-time compared to mothers who viewed routines as “very important”. Conclusion Promoting bed-time rituals and prioritizing routines, even somewhat, may be related to an improved balance of child movement behaviors. Innovative measures are needed to support families during periods of disruption such as that experienced in the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 pandemic impact on family life and exacerbated emotional and behavioral health among preschool children: A longitudinal study

“…With regard to children's behavioral problems, this study indicated that the severe impact of COVID-19 pandemic on family life was associated with more sleep problems, and the effect was more significant in boys and older children. In accordance with this, one study has confirmed that preschool children within household chaos due to the COVID-19 pandemic are susceptible to sleep problems ( Kracht et al, 2021 ). Additionally, several studies have indicated that sleep quality of preschool children decreases in the COVID-19 lockdown ( Dellagiulia et al, 2020 ; Markovic et al, 2021 ).…”

Physical Activity of Children and Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Scoping Review

“…Individual constraining factors included the child’s age [ 20 , 37 , 45 , 50 , 52 , 53 ], feelings of stress [ 54 , 55 ], feeling comfortable at home [ 55 ], having a migration background [ 34 ], lower socioeconomic status (SES) [ 29 ], change to routines [ 27 ], pre-COVID sedentary time [ 44 ], pre-COVID activity levels [ 51 ], and mood states [ 56 ]. Context-related constraints included the caregiver’s level of education [ 32 , 33 , 34 ], living in an apartment [ 33 ], parent’s age [ 47 ], parent’s marital status [ 20 ], lack of playmates [ 57 ], family conflict [ 36 , 58 ], no outdoor space available [ 55 ], level of parents’ stress [ 49 ], lack of supervision [ 57 ], proximity to major roads [ 46 ], restrictions from COVID-19 [ 40 , 48 ], club training cancellation [ 40 ], enrolment in an early education center [ 33 ], and urban environment [ 51 , 59 ] (see Table 3 ).…”

“Coronavirus Changed the Rules on Everything”: Parent Perspectives on How the COVID-19 Pandemic Influenced Family Routines, Relationships and Technology Use in Families with Infants

“…This is similar to a study of 2426 Chinese children and adolescents, which found a significant increase of approximately 30 h a week of screen time during the pandemic compared to before the pandemic [ 53 ]. Additionally, in a cross-sectional study of 1836 American mothers of pre-schoolers, most (74%) reported an increased in child screen-time due to the COVID-19 outbreak, with screen-time higher in homes that had greater scores of ‘household chaos’ [ 54 ]. In an Australian online poll, 51% of families reported an increase in child screen time for entertainment due to the pandemic associated restrictions [ 50 ].…”