Associations of Mothers' and Children's Stress With Children's Device-Measured Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior Trajectories Across 3 Years

Association of Neighborhood Social Context and Perceived Stress Among Mothers of Young Children

BACKGROUND

Chronic parental stress may negatively impact health among both parents and children. Adverse neighborhood social conditions like crime may increase stress while a supportive neighborhood may buffer stress and promote well-being. Our objective was to examine associations between neighborhood social factors and stress among mothers of young children.

METHODS

We surveyed 300 mothers/female caregivers of Medicaid-enrolled 2 to 4-year-old children in Philadelphia. Maternal stress was measured via the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (range 0-40). Mothers' perceived neighborhood safety and collective efficacy were assessed using validated scales. Addresses were geocoded to link census tract-level violent crime rates. We used multivariable linear regression to examine associations of neighborhood safety, collective efficacy, and crime with maternal stress, adjusted for demographics, household socioeconomic status, and neighborhood poverty.

RESULTS

Among mothers (mean age 31, 60% Black/African American), higher perceived neighborhood safety and collective efficacy were associated with lower stress scores after adjustment for covariates. Each 1-point increase (on a 5-point scale) in perceived neighborhood safety was associated with a 2.30-point decrease in maternal stress (95% CI: -3.07, -1.53). Similarly, each 1-point increase in perceived collective efficacy was associated with a 3.08-point decrease in maternal stress (95% CI: -4.13, -2.02). Police-recorded violent crime rates were not associated with maternal stress.

CONCLUSION

Mothers of young children who perceive their neighborhood social environment more favorably report less stress compared to those who feel their neighborhood environment is less safe and cohesive. Future work is warranted to investigate whether interventions that increase perceived neighborhood safety and collective efficacy reduce stress.

Temporal stability of behavior, temporal cue-behavior associations, and physical activity habit strength among mothers with school-aged children

Objective: PA habits reflect stable, consistent patterns in behaviours that are performed automatically in response to temporal or contextual cues. Mothers face multiple demands and complex schedules related to parenting. This study examined how subject-level mean, variability, and slopes in device-measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) over three different timescales were associated with mothers' PA habits. Methods and Measures: Mothers (n = 125; Mage=41.4 years) completed six measurement periods across three years. Each measurement period consisted of seven days of accelerometry. MVPA minutes were processed across hours, days, and measurement periods. PA habits were assessed in the last measurement period. Results: Subject-level means of MVPA at all timescales were positively associated with stronger PA habits (βs = 0.42-0.48, ps<.01). Subject-level variability in day-level MVPA was positively associated with habits (β = 0.39, p=.01). Furthermore, mothers who engaged in higher mean day-level MVPA had a more positive association between subject-level variability in day-level MVPA and habit strength compared to mothers with lower mean day-level MVPA overall (β = 0.28, p=.04). Mothers who had steeper increases in MVPA across measurement periods (i.e. subject-level slope) reported stronger habits (β = 0.43; p = 0.03). Conclusion: Flexibly adjusting daily PA levels may be a necessary strategy to maintain habits in the face of parenting demands.