Families have the potential to foster a healthy home environment aimed at reducing the risk of overweight and obesity. Establishing habits associated with reduced risk of obesity and overweight early in childhood can have lasting effects into adulthood. Nurse practitioners can encourage families to participate in healthy habits by addressing areas of growth for obesity prevention within the home. A review of the most recent literature, approximately over the past decade, was used to provide a consolidated source of reference for healthy home habits for the nurse practitioner. The search included terms such as “obesity,” “overweight,” “healthy habits,” “physical activity,” “obesogenic behaviors,” “family meals,” “screen time,” “depression,” “sugary beverages,” and “portion sizes.” The information was synthesized into three content areas: nutrition and consumption, patterns of activity, and stress within the home. Establishing healthy habits early in life can protect against the development of overweight and obesity. Nurse practitioners can serve a vital role in the prevention of pediatric, adolescent, and adult obesity. Equipped with the unique role of assisting those from a diverse patient base, nurse practitioners can inform patients how to improve healthy habits to decrease the likelihood of obesity or overweight. Encouraging behavior change related to the healthy habits associated with the prevention of overweight and obesity can have a long-term impact on the health of an entire family.

Helicopter parenting may contribute to the development of children’s maladaptive perfectionism. This relationship may be salient in emerging adulthood, a time characterized by decision-making and navigating novel situations. This cross-sectional study was designed to investigate the relation of helicopter parenting and maladaptive perfectionism. Emerging adult college students ( n = 264) completed measures of helicopter parenting and a measure of maladaptive perfectionism. Factor analysis of the helicopter parenting measures yielded two factors: the perceived parental behavior factor included items about parents intervening in the emerging adults’ lives and the affective response factor included items about how the emerging adults felt about the reported parental intervention. Findings supported a mediation model where parental behavior was related to maladaptive perfectionism through the construct of affective response. These findings document the importance of understanding behaviors associated with helicopter parenting as well as individual differences in how emerging adults interpret and respond to those behaviors.

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Harassment toward others happens in many contexts with a myriad of negative impacts on victims, witnesses, and society. Although preventing harassment of others is ideal, it is also important to consider how bystanders may react in ways to defend the victim and reduce the harassment. Bystanders differ in their reactions to these events and the goal of this investigation is to better understand individual differences in college students’ reported tendency to defend victims of harassment. We proposed a mediation model where higher rates of helicopter parenting would predict lower empathic concern and greater personal distress. In turn, lower empathic concern and greater personal distress would predict lower likelihood of defending the victim. College students ( n = 305) completed self-report measures of helicopter parenting, empathic concern, personal distress, and bystander intervention to general harassment. Using the Hayes PROCESS program, we found the relation of helicopter parenting to bystander intervention was mediated by empathic concern, such that helicopter parenting predicted lower empathic concern, which predicted lower likelihood of intervening. Helicopter parenting predicted greater personal distress, but personal distress did not predict bystander intervention. In an exploratory analysis, we tested a moderated mediation model in which personal distress moderated the relation of empathic concern to bystander intervention. The moderated mediation model was statistically significant; for students with low to moderate personal distress, empathic concern predicted self-reported intervention. However, for students high in personal distress, empathic concern was not related to self-reported intervention. The current study explained a small amount of the variance in bystander intervention. These findings demonstrate the complex family and personal factors that may explain, to a small degree, individual differences in bystander intervention. Further studies should consider the complex contextual variables that may influence this relationship.

Physical inactivity is a public health crisis that contributes to many of the chronic diseases that affect Americans. This review emphasizes the beneficial health implications of physical activity along with the dangers of sedentary lifestyles. It also provides advice tailored to NPs to help their patients become more physically active.