Parental Active Transportation Routines (PATRns) as a Moderator of the Association Between Neighborhood Characteristics and Parental Influences and Active School Transportation

Successful implementation of interventions to stimulate active school transportation (AST) requires better understanding of this behavior. This study explored the associations between Parental Active Transportation Routines (PATRns) and children’s AST use, as well as the role of PATRns as a moderator of the association between the neighborhood...

The Association Between the Physical Environment of Primary Schools and Active School Transport

This study examined the relationship between the physical environment characteristics of primary schools and active school transport among 3,438 5- to 12-year-old primary school children in the Netherlands. The environmental characteristics were categorized into four theory-based clusters (function, safety, aesthetics, and destination). The...

The effectiveness of lifestyle triple P in the Netherlands: A randomized controlled trial

Introduction Lifestyle Triple P is a general parenting intervention which focuses on preventing further excessive weight gain in overweight and obese children. The objective of the current study was to assess the effectiveness of the Lifestyle Triple P intervention in the Netherlands. Method We used a parallel randomized controlled design to...

Active Living: development and quasi-experimental evaluation of a school-centered physical activity intervention for primary school children

Background The worldwide increase in the rates of childhood overweight and physical inactivity requires successful prevention and intervention programs for children. The aim of the Active Living project is to increase physical activity and decrease sedentary behavior of Dutch primary school children by developing and implementing tailored,...

Maternal smoking during pregnancy and childhood overweight and fat distribution: The KOALA Birth Cohort Study

What is already known about this subject There is an association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and higher body mass index (BMI) and overweight in childhood. What this study adds The association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and childhood overweight develops with age, starting with a lower birth weight, followed by weight...

Relationship between physical activity and the development of body mass index in children

PURPOSE: Studies estimating the contribution of physical activity (PA) to the development of body mass index (BMI) in critical periods of childhood are warranted. Therefore, we have prospectively investigated this relationship in boys and girls of the KOALA Birth Cohort study, the Netherlands, in the period around adiposity rebound (i.e., 4-9 yr...

Parental perception of child's weight status and subsequent BMIz change: The KOALA birth cohort study

Background: Parents often fail to correctly perceive their children's weight status, but no studies have examined the association between parental weight status perception and longitudinal BMIz change (BMI standardized to a reference population) at various ages. We investigated whether parents are able to accurately perceive their child's weight...

Moderators of the longitudinal relationship between the perceived physical environment and outside play in children: The KOALA birth cohort study

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...

Food parenting practices and child dietary behavior. Prospective relations and the moderating role of general parenting

Research on parenting practices has focused on individual behaviors while largely failing to consider the context of their use, i.e., general parenting. We examined the extent to which food parenting practices predict children's dietary behavior (classified as unhealthy: snacking, sugar-sweetened beverage; and healthy: water and fruit intake)....

Energy balance-related behavioural patterns in 5-year-old children and the longitudinal association with weight status development in early childhood

Objective The current study examined clustering of dietary intake and activity behaviours (i.e. physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour) in 5-year-old children, as well as the longitudinal association with BMI and overweight development. Design Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify behavioural patterns. Backward...

Interaction Between Physical Environment, Social Environment, and Child Characteristics in Determining Physical Activity at Child Care

Objective: To investigate the association between the child-care environment and physical activity of 2- and 3-year-olds. Based on an ecological view of environmental influences on health behavior, we hypothesized that the social and physical environment, as well as child characteristics (age and gender), would show independent and interactive...

Association of breast-feeding and feeding on demand with child weight status up to 4 years

Objectives. The mechanisms underlying the protective effect of breast-feeding on the development of childhood overweight are unclear. This study examines the association of breast-feeding with weight gain in the first year, and body mass index (BMI) and overweight up to 4 years. In addition, we examine possible mechanisms of this effect (i.e.,...

Association between parenting practices and children's dietary intake, activity behavior and development of body mass index: The KOALA Birth Cohort Study.

Background: Insights into the effects of energy balance-related parenting practices on children’s diet and activity behavior at an early age is warranted to determine which practices should be recommended and to whom. The purpose of this study was to examine child and parent background correlates of energy balance-related parenting practices at...

Child-care use and the association with body mass index and overweight in children from 7 months to 2 years of age

Objectives:Studies regarding the association of child-care use with body mass index (BMI), overweight or obesity development show contradictory results. This study examined the relationship between child-care use and BMI z-scores and overweight, as well as associates of child-care use in children up to 2 years old.Methods:Longitudinal data...

Letters to the Editor

Child-care environment and dietary intake of 2- and 3-year-old children

Background: Previous research has shown that children in child-care do not comply with dietary intake recommendations (i.e. either exceeding or not meeting recommendations), which may be attributable to specific features of the child-care environment. The present study explored the relationship between the social and physical child-care (day...

Clustering of Dietary Intake and Sedentary Behavior in 2-Year-Old Children

Objective: To examine clustering of energy balance-related behaviors (EBRBs) in young children. This is crucial because lifestyle habits are formed at an early age and track in later life. This study is the first to examine EBRB clustering in children as young as 2 years. Study design: Cross-sectional data originated from the Child, Parent and...

Diet-related restrictive parenting practices. Impact on dietary intake of 2-year-old children and interactions with child characteristics

This study examined the relationship between diet-related parenting practices, parental characteristics, child characteristics, and 2-year-old child's dietary intake. Cross-sectional data (N = 2578) originated from the KOALA Birth Cohort Study. Principal component analyses revealed two restrictive parenting practice clusters: a cluster...