Differences in Mothers’ and Children’s Dietary Intake during Physical and Sedentary Activities: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

Abstract

Background Physical activity and diet are major modifiable health behaviors contributing to obesity risk. Although patterns of these behaviors tend to cluster within individuals and within family units, it is unknown to what extent healthy and unhealthy dietary intake might differentially accompany sedentary and physical activities in mothers as compared to their children. Objective Our goal was to examine differences in co-occurrence of activities and dietary intake between mothers and children, as measured in real time using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA). Participants/setting This study examined cross-sectional data from 175 mothers and their 8–12 year old children. Main Outcome Measures Participants completed eight days of EMA surveys, reporting on whether the following activities had occurred in the past two hours: sedentary screen activity, physical activity, and intake of healthy (i.e., fruits and vegetables) and unhealthy (i.e., fast food, chips/fries, pastries/sweets, soda/energy drinks) foods. Statistical analyses performed Multilevel logistic regression models estimated the adjusted odds of consuming healthy and unhealthy dietary intake for mothers and children during time periods reporting physical activity (vs. no physical activity) or sedentary screen activity (vs. no sedentary screen activity). Post-hoc tests compared estimates for mothers vs. children. Results Children were significantly more likely than their mothers to consume unhealthy foods during two-hour windows that included physical activity (OR [children] = 1.85, 95% CI = 1.47 – 2.31; OR [mothers] = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.58 – 1.20, pdiff <0.05), but not sedentary screen activity (pdiff= 0.067). Additionally, children and their mothers did not differ in their likelihood of consuming healthy foods during two-hour windows with sedentary screen activity (pdiff = 0.497) or physical activity (pdiff = 0.170). Conclusions Results indicate that the consumption of unhealthy foods may be more likely to co-occur within a two-hour window including physical activity in children as compared to their mothers. Future research should examine reasons for this difference, and potential areas for intervention. Differences in mothers’ and children’s dietary intake during physical and sedentary activities: an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study

mHealth technology for ecological momentary assessment in physical activity research: a systematic review

“…In relation to the within-day intervals for EMA assessments, 35% of the studies established EMA assessments throughout the whole day, whereas 32% scheduled the assessments according to the availability of the participants; for example, studies with children samples avoided school hours (O'Connor et al, 2017). Interestingly, only 26% of studies were to found directly differentiate between working days and non-working days.…”

Peer Review #2 of "mHealth technology for ecological momentary assessment in physical activity research: a systematic review (v0.1)"

“…Therefore, we suggest a duration between 1 and 4 weeks as an optimal balance between habits information and low levels of dropout for future EMA studies. In relation to the within-day intervals for EMA assessments, 35% of the studies established EMA assessments throughout the whole day, whereas 32% scheduled the assessments according to the availability of the participants; for example, studies with children samples avoided school hours (81). Interestingly, only 26% of studies were to found directly differentiate between workingdays and non-working days.…”

Mobile Ecological Momentary Diet Assessment Methods for Behavioral Research: Systematic Review (Preprint)

“…A total of 10 studies described signal-contingent mEMDA methods used in nutritionrelated research [74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83]. Additional approach details were extracted from multiple related journal articles [79,[84][85][86][87][88][89].…”