Socio-demographic Modifiers In Relations Between 24-hour Behavior Guideline Compliance And Receptive Vocabulary In Preschool Children

Early childhood is a vital time for cognitive development and to establish healthy behaviors such as physical activity (PA), sleep, and limited screen time (24-hr behaviors). Although these behaviors, as well as socio-demographic factors such as socioeconomic status (SES), race, and ethnicity, have been associated with vocabulary skills individually, they may have interactive influences in young children. PURPOSE: To determine the relations between compliance of 24-hr movement behavior guidelines and receptive vocabulary in preschool children and explore potential socio-demographic effect modifiers. METHODS: Children (n = 233, 50.8 ± 9.5 months, 46.6% female) wore accelerometers on their wrists for 9.5 ± 3.4 days and 9.7 ± 3.4 nights to estimate PA and sleep. Child’s age, sex, race, SES, and screen time were parent reported. Receptive vocabulary was assessed with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT). Multivariate linear regression models were used to inspect the associations between adherence to the 24-hr guidelines (all guidelines and individual behavior recommendations) and vocabulary. All models included an interaction between the behavior compliance variable and race and were adjusted for age, sex, and SES. RESULTS: Meeting the full guidelines was positively associated with PPVT scores (weekdays: B = 11.0, p = 0.014; weekends: B = 11.9, p = 0.005). However, among children identified as 2+ races, meeting the full guidelines was negatively associated with vocabulary (weekdays: B = -29.2, p = 0.037; weekends: B = -30.1, p = 0.012). In all models, age was positively, and SES was inversely associated with vocabulary. Meeting PA, screen time, and sleep recommendations when explored separately were not associated with performance. CONCLUSION: Independent of age, sex, and SES, compliance with 24-hr behavior guidelines was associated with higher receptive vocabulary. However, even after accounting for SES, some effect modification was identified with race, suggesting that in some groups of children engaging in health behaviors does not have the same influence on cognitive development. These considerations may be important health intervention designs targeting cognitive development. NIH R01 HL111695