Household Chaos Is Not Related To Habitual Physical Activity And Sedentary Behavior In Adolescent Sample

Studies suggest high-chaos households, characterized by noise, crowding, lack of routine, and high emotionality, are associated with poor lifestyle behaviors in young children, like poor diet quality, high screen time, and low levels of physical activity. However, the relationships between household chaos and physical activity behavior (PA) in early adolescents are unknown. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between household chaos and PA in early adolescents between 8 and 14 years. Household chaos, PA, and body mass index (BMI) were tested for sex differences. METHODS: Secondary data from N = 56 children (Mage = 10.36 ± 2.04 years, 50% Female) were analyzed. Parents completed the 15-item Confusion, Hubbub, and Order Scale (CHAOS). Chronic PA was collected over seven consecutive days using a triaxial waist-worn accelerometer, with at least four days of above 10 hours per day of wear time included in analyses. PA intensities were identified using validated cut-points and sampling at 90 Hz, where non-wear time was defined as 60 consecutive minutes of 0 counts. PA outcomes of percent of time in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (%MVPA) and sedentary behavior (%Sed) over four days were extracted. Hierarchical regressions determined relationships between CHAOS and PA, with covariates (age, sex, household income, and BMI) in Step 1 and CHAOS in Step 2. Sex differences were tested via independent samples t-tests. RESULTS: Participants averaged 19.82 ± 5.87% MVPA and 64.48 ± 7.71% Sed. Parents reported an average CHAOS score of 37.55 ± 4.22 out of a possible 60. Household income and sex were associated with CHAOS whereby children from higher income families (beta = .346, p = .024) and males (beta = .531, p = .004) exhibited greater CHAOS. Household chaos was not significantly related to %MVPA (beta = .424, p = .646) or %Sed (beta = -1.17, p = .298). No variables differed significantly by sex. CONCLUSIONS: Household chaos was not significantly related to physical activity and sedentary behavior in this sample of early adolescent children. Low variability among CHAOS scores and lower CHAOS reports overall may explain null results. Additional research among larger samples of children is needed to test whether household chaos impacts children’s physical activity patterns.