BACKGROUND: Most studies on multiple health risk behaviors among adolescents have cross-sectionally studied a limited number of health behaviors or determinants.PURPOSE: To examine the prevalence, longitudinal patterns and predictors of individual and multiple health risk behaviors among adolescents.METHODS: Eight health risk behaviors (no regular consumption of fruit, vegetables or breakfast, overweight or obesity, physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol use and cannabis use) were assessed in a prospective population study (second and third wave). Participants were assessed in three waves between ages 10 and 17 (2001-2008; n=2230). Multiple linear regression was used to assess the influence of gender, self-control, parental health risk behaviors, parental monitoring and socioeconomic factors on the number of health risk behaviors adjusted for preceding multiple health risk behaviors (analysis: 2013-2014).RESULTS: Rates of >5 health risk behaviors were high: 3.6% at age 13.5 and 10.2% at age 16. Smoking at age 13.5 was frequently associated with health risk behaviors at age 16. No regular consumption of fruit, vegetables and breakfast, overweight or obesity, physical inactivity and smoking predicted the co-occurrence of health risk behaviors at follow-up. Significant predictors of the development of multiple health risk behaviors were adolescents' levels of self-control, socioeconomic status and maternal smoking.CONCLUSIONS: Multiple health risk behaviors are common among adolescents. Individual and social factors predict changes in multiple health risk behaviors, showing that prevention targeting multiple risk behaviors is needed. Special attention should be paid to adolescents with low self-control and families with low socioeconomic status or a mother who smokes.
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Parents who grew up without digital monitoring have a plethora of parental monitoring opportunities at their disposal. While they can engage in surveillance practices to safeguard their children, they also have to balance freedom against control. This research is based on in-depth interviews with eleven early adolescents and eleven parents to investigate everyday negotiations of parental monitoring. Parental monitoring is presented as a form of lateral surveillance because it entails parents engaging in surveillance practices to monitor their children. The results indicate that some parents are motivated to use digital monitoring tools to safeguard and guide their children, while others refrain from surveillance practices to prioritise freedom and trust. The most common forms of surveillance are location tracking and the monitoring of digital behaviour and screen time. Moreover, we provide unique insights into the use of student tracking systems as an impactful form of control. Early adolescents negotiate these parental monitoring practices, with responses ranging from acceptance to active forms of resistance. Some children also monitor their parents, showcasing a reciprocal form of lateral surveillance. In all families, monitoring practices are negotiated in open conversations that also foster digital resilience. This study shows that the concepts of parental monitoring and lateral surveillance fall short in grasping the reciprocal character of monitoring and the power dynamics in parent-child relations. We therefore propose that monitoring practices in families can best be understood as family surveillance, providing a novel concept to understand how surveillance is embedded in contemporary media practices among interconnected family members.
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Background: The aims of this systematic review were to study the effectiveness of primary school-based physical activity, sedentary behavior and nutrition interventions with direct parental involvement on children’s BMI or BMI z-score, physical activity, sedentary behavior and nutrition behavior and categorize intervention components into targeted socio-cognitive determinants and environmental types using the Environmental Research framework for weight Gain prevention. Methods: In March 2018, a systematic search was conducted in four electronic literature databases. Articles written in English about effectiveness studies on school-based interventions with direct parental involvement targeting 4–12 year olds were included. Interventions with indirect parental involvement, interventions not targeting the school environment, and pilot studies were excluded. Study and intervention characteristics were extracted. Study quality and study effectiveness were assessed and effect sizes (Cohen’s d) were calculated for the outcome measures. Types of socio-cognitive factors and environmental types targeted were distinguished. Results: In total, 25 studies were included. Most studies on BMI or BMI z-score, physical activity and sedentary behavior found favorable results: 61.1%, 81.1% and 75%, respectively. Results regarding nutrition behavior were inconclusive. Methodological study quality varied. All interventions targeted multiple environmental types in the school and family environment. Five targeted socio-cognitive determinants (knowledge, awareness, attitude, self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation) of the children were identified. No consistent pattern was found between either type of environment targeted, number of type of environment targeted, or the child’s targeted socio-cognitive determinants and intervention effectiveness. Discussion: School-based interventions with direct parental involvement have the potential to improve children’s weight status, physical activity and sedentary behavior. Based on the results, it is recommended that school-based interventions with direct parental involvement target more than one EBRB, last at least one year, and focus particularly on the physical and social environment within both the school and the family environment
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Unhealthy eating behaviors and low levels of physical activity are major problems in adolescents and young adults in vocational education. To develop effective intervention programs, more research is needed to understand how different types of motivation contribute to health behaviors. In the present study, Self-Determination Theory is used to examine how motivation contributes to dietary and physical activity behaviors in vocational students. This cross-sectional study included 809 students (mean age 17.8 ± 1.9 years) attending vocational education in the Netherlands. Linear multilevel regression analyses were used to investigate the association between types of motivation and dietary and physical activity behaviors. Amotivation was negatively associated with breakfast frequency and positively associated with diet soda consumption and high-calorie between-meal snacks. A positive association was found between autonomous motivation and water intake, breakfast frequency, fruit intake, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Autonomous motivation was negatively associated with the consumption of unhealthy products. Controlled motivation was not associated with physical activity or dietary behaviors. Different types of motivation seem to explain either healthy or unhealthy dietary behaviors in vocational students. Autonomous motivation, in particular, was shown to be associated with healthy behaviors and could therefore be a valuable intervention target.
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Objectives: Promoting unstructured outside play is a promising vehicle to increase children’s physical activity (PA). This study investigates if factors of the social environment moderate the relationship between the perceived physical environment and outside play. Study design: 1875 parents from the KOALA Birth Cohort Study reported on their child’s outside play around age five years, and 1516 parents around age seven years. Linear mixed model analyses were performed to evaluate (moderating) relationships among factors of the social environment (parenting influences and social capital), the perceived physical environment, and outside play at age five and seven. Season was entered as a random factor in these analyses. Results: Accessibility of PA facilities, positive parental attitude towards PA and social capital were associated with more outside play, while parental concern and restriction of screen time were related with less outside play. We found two significant interactions; both involving parent perceived responsibility towards child PA participation. Conclusion: Although we found a limited number of interactions, this study demonstrated that the impact of the perceived physical environment may differ across levels of parent responsibility.
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Background: Early childhood caries is considered one of the most prevalent diseases in childhood, affecting almost half of preschool-age children globally. In the Netherlands, approximately one-third of children aged 5 years already have dental caries, and dental care providers experience problems reaching out to these children. Objective: Within the proposed trial, we aim to test the hypothesis that, compared to children who receive usual care, children who receive the Toddler Oral Health Intervention as add-on care will have a reduced cumulative caries incidence and caries incidence density at the age of 48 months. Methods: This pragmatic, 2-arm, individually randomized controlled trial is being conducted in the Netherlands and has been approved by the Medical Ethics Research Board of University Medical Center Utrecht. Parents with children aged 6 to 12 months attending 1 of the 9 selected well-baby clinics are invited to participate. Only healthy children (ie, not requiring any form of specialized health care) with parents that have sufficient command of the Dutch language and have no plans to move outside the well-baby clinic region are eligible. Both groups receive conventional oral health education in well-baby clinics during regular well-baby clinic visits between the ages of 6 to 48 months. After concealed random allocation of interventions, the intervention group also receives the Toddler Oral Health Intervention from an oral health coach. The Toddler Oral Health Intervention combines behavioral interventions of proven effectiveness in caries prevention. Data are collected at baseline, at 24 months, and at 48 months. The primary study endpoint is cumulative caries incidence for children aged 48 months, and will be analyzed according to the intention-to-treat principle. For children aged 48 months, the balance between costs and effects of the Toddler Oral Health Intervention will be evaluated, and for children aged 24 months, the effects of the Toddler Oral Health Intervention on behavioral determinants, alongside cumulative caries incidence, will be compared. Results: The first parent-child dyads were enrolled in June 2017, and recruitment was finished in June 2019. We enrolled 402 parent-child dyads. Conclusions: All follow-up interventions and data collection will be completed by the end of 2022, and the trial results are expected soon thereafter. Results will be shared at international conferences and via peer-reviewed publication.
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The aim of the current study was to evaluate the one- and two-year effectiveness of the KEIGAAF intervention, a school-based mutual adaptation intervention, on the BMI z-score (primary outcome), and energy balance-related behaviors (secondary outcomes) of children aged 7–10 years. A quasi-experimental study was conducted including eight intervention schools and three control schools located in low socioeconomic neighborhoods in the Netherlands. Baseline measurements were conducted in March and April 2017 and repeated after one and 2 years. Data were collected on children’s BMI z-score, sedentary behavior (SB), physical activity (PA) behavior, and nutrition behavior through the use of anthropometric measurements, accelerometers, and questionnaires, respectively. All data were supplemented with demographics, and weather conditions data was added to the PA data. Based on the comprehensiveness of implemented physical activities, intervention schools were divided into schools having a comprehensive PA approach and schools having a less comprehensive approach. Intervention effects on continuous outcomes were analyzed using multiple linear mixed models and on binary outcome measures using generalized estimating equations. Intervention and control schools were compared, as well as comprehensive PA schools, less comprehensive PA schools, and control schools. Effect sizes (Cohen’s d) were calculated. In total, 523 children participated. Children were on average 8.5 years old and 54% were girls. After 2 years, intervention children’s BMI z-score decreased (B = -0.05, 95% CI -0.11;0.01) significantly compared to the control group (B = 0.20, 95% CI 0.09;0.31). Additionally, the intervention prevented an age-related decline in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) (%MVPA: B = 0.95, 95% CI 0.13;1.76). Negative intervention effects were seen on sugar-sweetened beverages and water consumption at school, due to larger favorable changes in the control group compared to the intervention group. After 2 years, the comprehensive PA schools showed more favorable effects on BMI z-score, SB, and MVPA compared to the other two conditions. This study shows that the KEIGAAF intervention is effective in improving children’s MVPA during school days and BMI z-score, especially in vulnerable children. Additionally, we advocate the implementation of a comprehensive approach to promote a healthy weight status, to stimulate children’s PA levels, and to prevent children from spending excessive time on sedentary behaviors.
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Research on follow-up outcomes of systemic interventions for family members with an intellectual disability is scarce. In this study, short-term and long-term follow-up outcomes of multisystemic therapy for adolescents with antisocial or delinquent behaviour and an intellectual disability (MST-ID) are reported. In addition, the role of parental intellectual disability was examined. Outcomes of 55 families who had received MST-ID were assessed at the end of treatment and at 6-month, 12-month and 18-month follow-up. Parental intellectual disability was used as a predictor of treatment outcomes. Missing data were handled using multiple imputation. Rule-breaking behaviour of adolescents declined during treatment and stabilized until 18 months post-treatment. The presence or absence of parental intellectual disability did not predict treatment outcomes. This study was the first to report long-term outcomes of MST-ID. The intervention achieved similar results in families with and without parents with an intellectual disability.
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Background. A number of parenting programs, aimed at improving parenting competencies, have recently been adapted or designed with the use of online technologies. Although web-based services have been claimed to hold promise for parent support, a meta-analytic review of online parenting interventions is lacking. Method. A systematic review was undertaken of studies (n = 19), published between 2000 and 2010, that describe parenting programs of which the primary components were delivered online. Seven programs were adaptations of traditional, mostly evidencebased, parenting interventions, using the unique opportunities of internet technology. Twelve studies (with in total 54 outcomes, Ntot parents = 1,615 and Ntot children = 740) were included in a meta-analysis. Results. The meta-analysis showed a statistically signifi cant medium effect across parents outcomes (ES = 0.67; se = 0.25) and child outcomes (ES = 0.42; se = 0.15). Conclusions. The results of this review show that web-based parenting programs with new technologies offer opportunities for sharing social support, consulting professionals and training parental competencies. The metaanalytic results show that guided and self-guided online interventions can make a signifi cant positive contribution for parents and children. The relation with other metaanalyses in the domains of parent education and web-based interventions is discussed.
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Background: Increasing health literacy (HL) in children could be an opportunity for a more health literate future generation. The aim of this scoping review is to provide an overview of how HL is conceptualized and described in the context of health promotion in 9–12-year-old children. Methods: A systematic and comprehensive search for ‘health literacy’ and ‘children’ and ‘measure’ was performed in accordance with PRISMA ScR in PubMed, Embase.com and via Ebsco in CINAHL, APA PsycInfo and ERIC. Two reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts and evaluated full-text publications regarding eligibility. Data was extracted systematically, and the extracted descriptions of HL were analyzed qualitatively using deductive analysis based on previously published HL definitions. Results: The search provided 5,401 original titles, of which 26 eligible publications were included. We found a wide variation of descriptions of learning outcomes as well as competencies for HL. Most HL descriptions could be linked to commonly used definitions of HL in the literature, and some combined several HL dimensions. The descriptions varied between HL dimensions and were not always relevant to health promotion. The educational setting plays a prominent role in HL regarding health promotion. Conclusion: The description of HL is truly diverse and complex encompassing a wide range of topics. We recommend adopting a comprehensive and integrated approach to describe HL dimensions, particularly in the context of health promotion for children. By considering the diverse dimensions of HL and its integration within educational programs, children can learn HL skills and competencies from an early age.
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