Both external structure (ie, participating in extracurricular activities) and family factors (ie, parental emotional support) have separately been linked with children’s physical health and well-being, however, their combined effects are less well known. The current study examined the longitudinal associations between participating in structured out-of-school activities and parent reports of warmth/emotional support with children’s weight status (ie, zBMI) over time. Utilizing longitudinal data from the United States-based Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010 to 2011 (ECLS-K:2011), we employed a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and a latent variable cross-lagged path analysis to examine if emotional supportiveness and participation in structured activities predicted lower zBMI over the course of 1 year. The final sample included 18 135 participants. Mean age of the participants was 8.12 years (±0.38 years), and 51% of children were male. Mean zBMI was 0.54 (±1.12). Structure at baseline predicted increased zBMI in year 2 (β =.03, P =.02) but did not predict parent emotional supportiveness at year 2 (β = −.05, P =.09). Parent emotional supportiveness at baseline predicted greater zBMI at year 2 (β =.02, P =
CITATION STYLE
Hunt, E. T., Armstrong, B., Beets, M. W., Turner-McGrievy, G., & Weaver, R. G. (2023). Interpersonal and Environmental Protective Factors and Their Associations With Children’s Weight Status. Journal of Primary Care and Community Health, 14. https://doi.org/10.1177/21501319231182304
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