Martinez GM, Vega-López S, Ayers S, Gonzalvez A, Bruening M, Luna BV, Marsiglia FF. Associations between parent-adolescent health-related conversations and mealtime media use among Hispanic families.
Fam Syst Health 2023:2024-19514-001. [PMID:
37870808 PMCID:
PMC11035490 DOI:
10.1037/fsh0000855]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Whereas parents play an important role in shaping the home environment, it is unknown whether health-related parent-adolescent conversations may be associated with different health-promoting parenting practices, such as limiting adolescent mealtime media use in Hispanic families.
METHOD
For this cross-sectional analysis, Hispanic parents (n = 344; 40.4 ± 6.6 years; 89.2% female) of sixth- to eighth-grade adolescents self-reported the frequency of having health- or weight-related conversations with their adolescent child, and the frequency of adolescent mealtime media device use. Spearman's rank correlations were used to assess whether parent-adolescent health-related conversations are associated with mealtime media device use by adolescents.
RESULTS
Over 75% of parents reported having conversations about healthy eating and being physically active at least a few times per week. Fewer parents reported having frequent weight-related conversations. Frequency of mealtime media use was low, except for television/movie watching (only 30% of parents reported their child rarely/never watching television during family meals). Having conversations related to the adolescent weighing too much was correlated with the mealtime use of television (r = .207; p < .001), cellphones (r = .134; p = .018), and headphones for music listening (r = .145; p = .010). Conversations about exercising to lose weight were correlated with television/movie watching during mealtimes (r = .129; p = .035).
DISCUSSION
Findings suggest the co-occurrence of less health-promoting parenting behaviors, such as focusing on weight-related conversations and allowing the use of media devices during mealtimes. Focusing on health- rather than weight-related parent-adolescent conversations and implementing mealtime media use rules may have the potential to shape a home food environment which ultimately could improve an adolescent's overall health outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
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