Relations Between Social-demographic Factors And 24-hour Movement Behavior Guideline Compliance In Preschool Children

Socio-demographic factors such as age, sex, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and parenting are related to physical activity (PA) and sleep when explored separately. However, there is growing support to consider and promote behaviors of a 24-hr cycle together. Although the World Health Organization has 24-hr guidelines for screen time, PA, and sleep in children under 5 years, correlates of compliance with these guidelines among young US children is unclear. Understanding how social determinants influence 24-hr behaviors in preschool children may inform targets to reduce health disparities. PURPOSE: To determine socio-demographic correlates of 24-hr movement behavior guideline compliance in a sample of US preschool children. METHODS: In 223 participants (50.8 ± 9.5 months, 46.6% female, 65.9% White, 25.1% Hispanic), PA and sleep were derived from accelerometers (9.6 ± 3.3 days, 9.7 ± 3.4 nights). Screen time, age, sex, race, ethnicity, and SES factors were parent-reported. Parents also completed two parenting questionnaires. Logistic regression models explored relations between socio-demographic factors and guideline compliance on weekdays and weekends. RESULTS: Age, sex, race, ethnicity, and SES were not associated with meeting the full 24-hr guidelines. On weekends, older children were more likely to meet PA recommendations (OR = 1.08, p = 0.005), but less likely to meet sleep recommendations (OR = 0.96, p = 0.04). On weekdays, children identified as Black (OR = 0.11, p = 0.006) or two or more races (OR = 0.38, p = 0.047) had lower odds than White children of meeting screen time recommendations. On weekends, children with parents scoring high for over-reactivity had greater odds of meeting PA guidelines (OR = 13.8, p = 0.034). On weekdays, children of parents with higher ‘dysfunctional parenting practices’ were less likely to meet screen time recommendations (OR = .19, p = 0.016). CONCLUSIONS: Age, race, and parenting styles may be correlates of movement behaviors in young children. Generalizability may be limited given the overall high compliance with sleep and PA recommendations. Future analyses in children with greater behavior variability that also include more nuanced socio-demographic measures may be warranted to help inform behavior promotion interventions. NIH R01 HL 111695