Household chaos: a risk factor for adverse child outcomes gains attention in public health

Emond, Jennifer A.

doi:10.1186/s12889-020-08680-y

Cited by 14 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…To that point, we wish to be clear that household chaos is not something families intentionally create, but rather is the result of systemic stressors and demands that pile up and disproportionately impact lower income families. In addition to considering addressing household chaos within parenting interventions, we should be fiercely advocating for programs and policies to reduce the additional systemic burdens that chaotic homes may face (Emond, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations between child theory of mind, mutuality in father‐preschooler dyads, and household chaos

2021

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Early theory of mind development is influenced by a variety of experiences and contexts. Social interactions with parents and others are important for developing a theory of mind, but these social processes may be disrupted by aspects of the proximal home environment. The current study observed father‐child dyadic mutuality (a construct representing responsiveness, reciprocity, and cooperation during a structured interaction) and its associations with child theory of mind and household chaos in a sample of fathers and their 3‐ to 5‐year‐old children (N = 88 dyads). Dyadic mutuality was coded from videotaped structured tasks, household chaos was self‐reported by fathers through a questionnaire, and child theory of mind was measured through behavioral tasks. Measures of child expressive language ability, child executive function, and family socioeconomic status are included as covariates. Results show no main effect of either dyadic mutuality or household chaos on child theory of mind, but that the association between dyadic mutuality and child theory of mind was moderated by household chaos, whereby the association between higher observed dyadic mutuality and better child theory of mind abilities was evident only at low and mean levels of chaos. Findings suggest that higher levels of household chaos may disturb the beneficial social interactions between parents and children that influence theory of mind development. Additional contextual variables and processes are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations between child theory of mind, mutuality in father‐preschooler dyads, and household chaos

2021

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“…An important component of preschooler behaviors, particularly sleep and screen-time, is the home environment [ 15 , 16 ]. Accordingly, a risk factor for poor cognitive development [ 17 ] and early childhood obesity [ 18 ] is daily disruptions within the home environment or “household chaos” [ 19 ]. Household chaos encompasses high levels of household unpredictability, noise, and crowding [ 20 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Household chaos, family routines, and young child movement behaviors in the U.S. during the COVID-19 outbreak: a cross-sectional study

Kracht

Katzmarzyk

2021

BMC Public Health

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Background The home environment is an important facilitator of young child movement behaviors, including physical activity (PA), sleep, and screen-time. Household chaos, characterized by crowding, noise, and disorder in the home, may hinder efforts to obtain adequate amounts of movement behaviors. The COVID-19 outbreak impacted many families, and social distancing during this time may create conditions for more household chaos. Family routines can help establish order in the home and encourage an appropriate balance of movement behaviors, such as less screen-time and more sleep. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between household chaos and young child movement behaviors during the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, and the role of family routines in this relationship. Methods A national online survey including 1836 mothers of preschoolers (3.0–5.9 years) was conducted during May 2020. Mothers reported demographic characteristics, household chaos, family routines, and the preschooler’s movement behaviors during the outbreak. Mothers completed a household chaos questionnaire and were grouped into chaos categories (low, moderate/low, moderate/high, and high) for analysis. Linear regression was used to assess the association between chaos category, family routines, and movement behaviors with adjustment for covariates. Results Mothers were 35.9 ± 4.1 years of age, middle income (47.8%), and preschoolers were 3.8 ± 0.8 years of age. Most mothers reported their preschooler was less physically active (38.9%), slept the same amount of time (52.1%), and increased their screen-time (74.0%) after the COVID-19 outbreak. Preschoolers in the high chaos households performed less total PA (β = − 0.36 days/week, 95% CI:-0.62 to − 0.09, p = 0.008), slept less (β = − 0.42 h, 95% CI:-0.59 to − 0.25, p = 0.001) and had more screen-time (β = 0.69 h, 95% CI:0.45 to 0.92, p = 0.001) compared to those in low chaos households. In most chaos categories, having a bed-time ritual was related to more child sleep, and mothers who viewed routines as “less/not important” reported more preschooler screen-time compared to mothers who viewed routines as “very important”. Conclusion Promoting bed-time rituals and prioritizing routines, even somewhat, may be related to an improved balance of child movement behaviors. Innovative measures are needed to support families during periods of disruption such as that experienced in the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“…Chaos represents a complex, multifaceted risk factor with research implications spanning various disciplines [67], including public health research focused on early childhood obesity prevention.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Mixed Methods Analysis of Environmental and Household Chaos: Implications for Childhood Obesity Prevention Through Toddlerhood

Krupsky

Parrott

Andridge

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background: Chaos has implications for child health that may extend to childhood obesity. Yet, results from studies describing associations between chaos and childhood obesity are mixed. Challenges to studying chaos-obesity relationships may include inconsistencies in how chaos is operationalized and reliance on caregiver perceptions. Furthermore, multiple pathways may link chaos to obesity, though few have been empirically examined.Methods: We conducted a concurrent mixed methods analysis of quantitative and qualitative data describing home and neighborhood chaos among a diverse cohort of 283 caregiver-toddlers dyads from Ohio. We examined the underlying structure of environmental and household chaos using exploratory factor analysis then sought to validate the structure using qualitative field notes. We generated total scores for factors of chaos and described their distributions overall and according to cohort characteristics. Additionally, we conducted a thematic content analysis of brief ethnographies to identify potential pathways linking chaos to childhood obesity with the intention to direct future research efforts.Results: Dyads varied according to household composition, income, education, and race/ethnicity. We found evidence for a multi-factor structure for chaos, which included disorganization and neighborhood noise. Household disorganization scores ranged from 8-18 and were on average 11.37 (SD = 2.58). Neighborhood noise scores ranged from 4-12 and were on average 6.93 (SD = 1.89). Both disorganization and neighborhood noise were associated with indicators of socioeconomic disadvantage, such as food insecurity and lower income-to-poverty ratio, though only disorganization was associated with additional social factors within homes, such as caregiver mental health and overall health. Finally, we identified unique themes from brief ethnographies which future contextualize the social and material environments in which chaos was observed, including child behavior and caregiver-child interactions.Conclusions: Chaos is a complex construct composed of multiple factors and the mechanisms linking chaos to childhood obesity may be equally complex. Future studies of chaos-obesity relationships may require greater specificity when operationalizing chaos and empirical study of pathways, like child behavior and caregiver-child interactions, may inform future obesity prevention strategies.

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Household chaos: a risk factor for adverse child outcomes gains attention in public health

Cited by 14 publications

References 24 publications

Associations between child theory of mind, mutuality in father‐preschooler dyads, and household chaos

Associations between child theory of mind, mutuality in father‐preschooler dyads, and household chaos

Household chaos, family routines, and young child movement behaviors in the U.S. during the COVID-19 outbreak: a cross-sectional study

A Mixed Methods Analysis of Environmental and Household Chaos: Implications for Childhood Obesity Prevention Through Toddlerhood

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