Correlates of sedentary behaviour in 8- to 10-year-old children at elevated risk for obesity

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe correlates of sedentary behaviour (SED) in children at elevated risk of obesity because of parental obesity. Participants were 534 children aged 8–10 years with ≥1 obese parent. SED and physical activity (PA) were measured by accelerometer, screen time by self-report, and height, weight, waist circumference, and cardiovascular fitness objectively measured. Data describing the child, parents, friends, and home and neighbourhood environments were from child self-report. Higher total SED time was significantly positively associated with child’s age, mother’s age, Tanner stage, weight status or waist circumference, less self-reported PA, choosing screen time over PA/sport, mother saying PA/sport good for them, and fewer weekly physical education (PE) classes. Exceeding 2 h/day screen time was significantly associated with child’s age, male sex, weight status or waist circumference, choosing screen time over PA/sport, and dinnertime TV viewing. Children regularly watching TV with dinner had 2.3 times greater odds (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.52, 3.58) of exceeding screen time guidelines compared with children rarely watching TV with dinner; children reporting ≤2 PE classes/week had 2.4 times greater odds (95% CI 1.41, 4.10) of being in the highest SED tertile compared with children reporting >2 PE classes/week. Hence, the most sedentary children are older, more biologically mature, less active, more overweight/obese, have fewer PE classes, and are more likely to choose screen time over PA and watch TV with dinner compared with less sedentary children. PE opportunities and mealtime TV viewing are potentially modifiable targets for reducing total SED and screen time in children.