Childhood health motivation and adult cardiometabolic health in the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health (CDAH) study.

Abstract

Objective: This research examined if childhood health motivation was associated with adult health behaviors and objectively measured health outcomes. Methods: Data were from the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health (CDAH) study. Children aged 9 to 15 years in 1985 completed a questionnaire with health motivation items. In 2004-06, when aged 26 to 36, participants completed assessments of health behaviors (smoking, diet, alcohol consumption and physical activity) and cardiometabolic outcomes (body mass index, carotid intima media thickness from ultrasound, and HOMA insulin resistance from fasting blood samples). Structural path regression analyses examined pathways from health motivation in childhood to adult cardiometabolic outcomes, mediated via adult health behaviors measured concurrently, controlling for age, sex and socioeconomic position. Results: There were 6,230 (49% female) children with data on health motivation. There were two latent constructs: health motivation (4 items: visiting a dentist, visiting a doctor, knowing about your body and eating a good diet) and risk motivation (3 items: not being a smoker, not being fat and not drinking alcohol). Greater health motivation was directly associated with non-smoking, lower carotid intima-media thickness and lower body mass index in adulthood. Greater risk motivation was directly associated with smoking, higher alcohol consumption and poorer diets in adulthood. It was also indirectly associated with higher carotid intimamedia thickness and higher HOMA insulin resistance via poorer health behaviors. Conclusions: Health motivation during childhood appears important to maintain health across the life course. It could be a target for interventions to improve cardiovascular health in children and adults.

Life Course Cardiovascular Health: Risk Factors, Outcomes, and Interventions

“…Motivation to engage in preventive care can help maintain health across the life course and is an important target for intervention. 20 Importantly, although individual-level associations of healthy behaviors, such as childhood smoking 21,22 or body weight 23 with later CVH may be unsurprising, there are also interpersonal-level associations. For example, parental smoking is also associated with offspring CVH in later life, 22,24 highlighting the importance of shared exposures among parents and offspring.…”

Childhood Factors Associated with Muscular Strength Trajectories between Childhood and Mid-Adulthood

“…As previously described (24), health and risk motivation items were operationalized as encompassing cognitions (e.g., attitudes, beliefs and intentions) focused on actions that can attain or maintain health. Participants self-reported how important it is to them to have a good figure, exercise regularly, to not be fat, and to know about fitness and how to stay fit.…”