Television use and family mealtimes among a sample of US families with preschoolers

Wenhold, Halie; Harrison, Kristen

doi:10.1080/17482798.2017.1395751

Cited by 17 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…Possible mechanisms include exposure to obesogenic food advertising (which can have both immediate effects on dietary intake, and longer term effects on fast food preferences [11,12]); adverse effects of mealtime screen use on appetite regulation and control [13]; and less parental monitoring of food consumption [14]. The social and physical context of mealtimes may have independent and/or interactive effects on children's diet, although it is not clear whether mealtime screen use compromises or promotes a positive atmosphere [15,16].…”

Section: Family Mealtime Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do bedroom screens and the mealtime environment shape different trajectories of child overweight and obesity? Research using the Growing Up in Scotland study

2019

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Objective To investigate how mealtime setting, mealtime interaction and bedroom screens are associated with different trajectories of child overweight and obesity, using a population sample. Methods Growth mixture modelling used data from children in the Growing Up in Scotland Study born in 2004/5 (boys n = 2085, girls n = 1991) to identify trajectories of overweight or obesity across four time points, from 46 to 122 months. Using data from children present at all sweeps, and combining sexes (n = 2810), mutually adjusted associations between primary exposures (mealtime setting, mealtime interaction and bedroom screens) and trajectory class were explored in multinomial models; controlling for early life factors, household organisation and routines, and children's diet patterns, overall screen use, physical activity and sleep. Results Five trajectories were identified in both sexes: Low Risk (68% of sample), Decreasing Overweight (9%), Increasing Overweight (12%), High/Stable Overweight (6%) and High/Increasing Obesity (5%). Compared with the Low Risk trajectory, High/Increasing Obesity and High/Stable Overweight trajectories were characterised by early increases in bedroom screen access (respective relative risk ratios (RRR) and 95% confidence intervals: 2.55 [1.30-5.00]; 1.62 [1.01-2.57]). An informal meal setting (involving mealtime screen use, not eating in a dining area and not sitting at a table) characterised the High/Increasing Obesity and Increasing Overweight trajectories (respective RRRs compared with Low Risk trajectory: 3.67 [1.99-6.77]; 1.75 [1.17-2.62]). Positive mealtime interaction was associated with membership of the Increasing Overweight trajectory (RRR 1.64 [1.13-2.36]). Conclusion Bedroom screen access and informal mealtime environments were associated with higher-risk overweight and obesity trajectories in a representative sample of Scottish children, after adjusting for a wide range of confounders. Findings may challenge the notion that positive mealtime interaction is protective. Promoting mealtimes in a screen-free dining area and removing screens from bedrooms may help combat childhood obesity.

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Section: Family Mealtime Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do bedroom screens and the mealtime environment shape different trajectories of child overweight and obesity? Research using the Growing Up in Scotland study

2019

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“…Previous cross-sectional research has shown a consistent association between young children's mealtime TV use and sub-optimal diets, particularly lower intakes of fruit and vegetables, and higher discretionary food intakes [20,24,[26][27][28][29][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. The present study is the first to evaluate the prospective association between mealtime TV use and dietary intake in young children, and thus, provides insights on the direction of influence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

“…Watching TV during mealtimes is associated with sub-optimal dietary intakes [23]. For example, in young children, mealtime TV use has been associated with higher intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages, and energy-dense, nutrient-poor discretionary foods [24,25]; lower intakes of fruit [26] and vegetables [26][27][28]; and lower overall diet quality [24,29,30]. Two separate systematic reviews assessing mealtime TV use and dietary outcomes have found that meals with the TV on were inversely associated with the quality of children's diets, from age 1-18 years [20,23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two separate systematic reviews assessing mealtime TV use and dietary outcomes have found that meals with the TV on were inversely associated with the quality of children's diets, from age 1-18 years [20,23]. However, most of this research is cross-sectional [24,[26][27][28][29][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38], prone to reverse causation, and the temporal order of the relationship cannot be established.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mealtime TV Use Is Associated with Higher Discretionary Food Intakes in Young Australian Children: A Two-Year Prospective Study

et al. 2022

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Background: Mealtime television use has been cross-sectionally associated with suboptimal diets in children. This study aimed to assess the two-year prospective association between baseline mealtime television use and subsequent diets in young children, and identify socioeconomic differences. Methods: Parents reported their child’s television use at meals, and fruit, vegetable, and discretionary food intakes. Multivariable linear and logistic regression analyses assessed the association between baseline mealtime television use and follow-up diet outcomes. Differences were assessed by socioeconomic position. Results: Participants were 352 Australian parents of children aged six months to six years. Daily mealtime television use (average frequency/day) was associated with higher daily frequency of discretionary food intakes (β 0.2, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.07–0.67) at the 2-year follow-up. Individually, television use during breakfast and dinner (1–2 days/week compared to never) predicted higher daily intake frequency of discretionary food, β 0.36 (95% CI 0.12–0.60) and β 0.19 (95% CI 0.00–0.39), respectively. Similarly, 3–7 days/week of television use during breakfast and lunch predicted higher frequency of discretionary food intake, β 0.18 (95% CI 0.02–0.37) and β 0.31 (95% CI 0.07–0.55), respectively. Associations were not socioeconomically patterned. Conclusions: Investigating mealtime television use motivators across the socioeconomic spectrum could inform interventions targeting the high consumption of discretionary foods in children.

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“…An interesting recent contribution to the study of media in the family is also the study of the use of television during meals with families with preschool children. Wenhold and Harrison (2018) tried to analyse families with a higher and low proportion of watching TV at mealtime and ritualization at mealtime, as well as harmony at mealtime and children's food composition.…”

Section: Media Research In the Context Of Family Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Media in the Lives of Contemporary Families

Stašová

2020

SpringerBriefs in Sociology

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The chapter on media in family life highlights the aspects of lifestyle of contemporary families in the context of the saturation of households with modern means of communication, their usage and attitudes towards them. Considerable attention was paid to the issue of family-related media in current research, as evidenced by a wide range of studies and research surveys. This chapter is devoted to several partial aspects of this attention and is based on the data of two surveys. The first research is the European representative survey Eurobarometer 88 (Eurobarometer 2017), and the other one is our research on the Lifestyle of the Contemporary Family (further LSCF, 2012–2015). These data shows an extension of selected media facilities in families, their usage and media leisure time activities and attitudes towards media. The studied countries are in some respects very similar to each other (relatively strong media saturation of households, most common daily use of television and computers, positive perception of media as a way to facilitate communication and negotiation). In other respects (joint media activities, strength of perception of negative aspects of media, usage of media by parents and by children), the countries differ.

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Television use and family mealtimes among a sample of US families with preschoolers

Cited by 17 publications

References 34 publications

Do bedroom screens and the mealtime environment shape different trajectories of child overweight and obesity? Research using the Growing Up in Scotland study

Do bedroom screens and the mealtime environment shape different trajectories of child overweight and obesity? Research using the Growing Up in Scotland study

Mealtime TV Use Is Associated with Higher Discretionary Food Intakes in Young Australian Children: A Two-Year Prospective Study

Media in the Lives of Contemporary Families

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