Socioenvironmental influences on children's fruit, juice and vegetable consumption as reported by parents: reliability and validity of measures

Objective: To describe the development of a short questionnaire including a wide range of personal, social and environmental constructs in relation to a healthy diet in an adolescent population. Design: The questionnaire was developed based on the literature, past experiences and feedback from a small pilot study (n 10). Test and retest (2 weeks later) of the questionnaire was done to investigate test-retest reliability. Data of four non-consecutive 24 h recalls were collected to investigate the predictive validity with food (fruit, vegetables, milk, snacks, soft drinks), nutrient (fibre, ascorbic acid, Ca, percentage energy from fat) and energy intakes. Setting: At home, in the presence of a student. Subjects: Convenience sample of fifty-five Belgian-Flemish adolescents approached by university students for course credits. Results: Test-retest correlations of the constructs ranged between 0?51 and 0?78. Eleven of the eighteen final constructs were significantly associated with one or more of the five selected food items, all in the expected direction. Most significant associations with the food items were found for taste, perceived peers' behaviour and availability of soft drinks at home. Fresh fruit and soft drinks were correlated with most constructs (seven) followed by snacks (five). Concerning energy and the selected nutrient variables, the findings were less clear. Conclusions:The results are promising: the test-retest stability was moderate to good; most of the psychosocial constructs were significantly associated with one or more of the selected dietary variables. Future work in a larger sample of European adolescents is warranted.

“…The latter has also been found in previous studies of 11-12-year-olds (16) and 4th-6th graders (23) .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Reliability and validity of a healthy diet determinants questionnaire for adolescents

Vereecken

Henauw²,

Maes³

et al. 2009

“…Children like to consume products they know -the more often children eat a given product, the more they like it. Children familiarize themselves with new tastes and products through experience as well as by observing dietary behaviours of other people present in their environment (parents, siblings, peers) (4,31,34,35) . The present study confirmed the role of the influence exerted by the family environment and health-oriented attitudes of parents (parents eating F&V, encouraging children to eat F&V, giving sliced F&V between meals, giving children F&V to take to school) on the F&V consumption of their children.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors within the family environment such as parents’ dietary habits and fruit and vegetable availability have the greatest influence on fruit and vegetable consumption by Polish children

Wolnicka

Taraszewska

Jaczewska-Schuetz

et al. 2015

Objective: To identify determinants of fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption among school-aged children. Design: A survey study was conducted in October 2010. The questionnaire contained questions concerning social and demographic data, lifestyle and dietary habits, particularly the frequency of F&V consumption, availability of F&V and knowledge about recommended amounts of F&V intake. Setting: Polish primary schools. Subjects: Children (n 1255) aged 9 years from randomly selected primary schools and their parents. Results: The children's consumption of fruit and of vegetables was influenced by the fruit consumption and vegetable consumption of their parents (r = 0·333 and r = 0·273, respectively; P = 0·001), parents encouraging their children to eat F&V (r = 0·259 and r = 0·271, respectively; P = 0·001), giving children F&V to take to school (r = 0·338 and r = 0·321, respectively; P = 0·001) and the availability of F&V at home (r = 0·200 and r = 0·296, respectively; P = 0·001). Parental education influenced only the frequency of fruit consumption (r = 0·074; P = 0·01). A correlation between parents' knowledge of the recommended intakes and the frequency of vegetable and fruit consumption by children was noticed (r = 0·258 and r = 0·192, respectively, P = 0·001). Conclusions: Factors within the family environment such as parents' dietary habits and F&V availability had the greatest influence on the F&V consumption by children. Educational activities aimed at parents are crucial to increase the consumption of F&V among children. Keywords Vegetable consumption Fruit consumption Children nutrition Determinants of consumptionChildhood is a crucial period within the process of shaping correct dietary habits, including the consumption of fruit and vegetables (F&V) (1) . Studies show that the dietary habits and preferences shaped during childhood and adolescence are continued into adult life (1,2) and that a diet rich in vegetables and fruit lowers the risk of many chronic diseases (3) . There are many factors which may influence the consumption of F&V by children. Apart from preferences, these factors include age, sex, domicile, social and economic factors, parents' education, parents' dietary habits concerning the consumption of F&V and the availability of F&V at home (4)(5)(6)(7) . Studies show that the consumption of F&V by children from different populations, including Polish children, is unsatisfactory, deviating from the recommendations on the amounts and well as the frequency of consumption (4,(8)(9)(10)(11) .F&V constitute a very important element of healthy nutrition. In a child's diet there should be approximately five portions of F&V each day. These foods are a vital source of antioxidants, fibre, vitamins and minerals. That is why they are a necessary element of a daily diet (3) . The majority of benefits from eating F&V result from the lowering of the risk of CVD, but F&V may also lower the risk of certain kinds of cancer. Research from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrit...

“…Several researchers have developed measures of the availability and accessibility of healthy and less healthy foods in the home with most emphasis placed on fruits and vegetables (18,36,(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)54,55,57,59,(61)(62)(63)65) . While no gold standard exists for examining availability and accessibility of foods, some trials have used in-home inventories.…”

Section: Food Availability and Accessibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the validity of in-home inventories conducted by researchers, it is often not feasible to conduct this type of resource-intensive assessment and a checklist format completed by participants may be more practical. Many of the checklists focus on availability and accessibility of fruit and vegetables (11,(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45) , and some on less healthful foods (18) , while others include a full range of food groups to reflect the typical US diet (46) . Availability has also been assessed most basically by asking whether caregivers purchase foods on their child's request and if foods are visible (47) .…”

Section: Food Availability and Accessibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Measures of the home environment related to childhood obesity: a systematic review

Pinard

Yaroch

Hart

et al. 2011

103

102

Objective: Due to a proliferation of measures for different components of the home environment related to childhood obesity, the purpose of the present systematic review was to examine these tools and the degree to which they can validly and reliably assess the home environment. Design: Relevant manuscripts published between 1998 and 2010 were obtained through electronic database searches and manual searches of reference lists. Manuscripts were included if the researchers reported on a measure of the home environment related to child eating and physical activity (PA) and childhood obesity and reported on at least one psychometric property. Results: Of the forty papers reviewed, 48 % discussed some aspect of parenting specific to food. Fifty-per cent of the manuscripts measured food availability/ accessibility, 18 % measured PA availability/accessibility, 20 % measured media availability/accessibility, 30 % focused on feeding style, 23 % focused on parenting related to PA and 20 % focused on parenting related to screen time. Conclusions: Many researchers chose to design new measures for their studies but often the items employed were brief and there was a lack of transparency in the psychometric properties. Many of the current measures of the home food and PA environment focus on one or two constructs; more comprehensive measures as well as short screeners guided by theoretical models are necessary to capture influences in the home on food and PA behaviours of children. Finally, the current measures of the home environment do not necessarily translate to specific subpopulations. Recommendations were made for future validation of measures in terms of appropriate psychometric testing. Keywords Child obesity Home environment Measurement PsychometricsThe prevalence and severity of childhood overweight have increased significantly in the past three decades (1)(2)(3) . Negative sequalae from being overweight during childhood include being at a higher risk for a number of chronic and acute conditions (4) as well as negative social and psychological outcomes (5) . The source for the majority of childhood obesity cases can be attributed to energy imbalance which has been linked to changes in the food and physical activity (PA) environments (6,7) . The home environment has been documented as one that can either facilitate or inhibit healthful eating and PA, and caregivers play a key role in the development of the social and physical environment within a household (8,9) . From a social environment perspective, caregivers serve as role models for PA, dietary and media behaviours and influence the child's health behaviours and weight status through parenting strategies and feeding styles (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21) . In addition, a child participates in more PA when a greater amount of space and active toys are available in the home (22,23) . Likewise, access to food items can impact consumption (24,25) . Similarly, when more screen opportunities are available, children are more likely to engage i...