Differences in ​the Proportion of Children Meeting Behavior Guidelines ​Between Summer ​and School by Socioeconomic Status and Race

Author(s)

Ethan T. Hunt
Lauren von Klinggraeff
Alexis Jones
Sarah Burkart
Roddrick Dugger, University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow
Bridget Armstrong Ph.D., University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow
Michael Beets Ph.D., University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow
Gabrielle Turner-McGrievy Ph.D., RD, University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow
Marco Geraci
Robert Glenn Weaver MEd, PhD, University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Objective

Children who fail to meet activity, sleep, and screen-time guidelines are at increased risk for obesity. Further, children who are Black are more likely to have obesity when compared to children who are White, and children from low-income households are at increased risk for obesity when compared to children from higher-income households. The objective of this study was to evaluate the proportion of days meeting obesogenic behavior guidelines during the school year compared to summer vacation by race and free/reduced priced lunch (FRPL) eligibility.

Methods

Mixed-effects linear and logistic regressions estimated the proportion of days participants met activity, sleep, and screen-time guidelines during summer and school by race and FRPL eligibility within an observational cohort sample.

Results

Children (n = 268, grades = K − 4, 44.1%FRPL, 59.0% Black) attending three schools participated. Children's activity, sleep, and screen-time were collected during an average of 23 school days and 16 days during summer vacation. During school, both children who were White and eligible for FRPL met activity, sleep, and screen-time guidelines on a greater proportion of days when compared to their Black and non-eligible counterparts. Significant differences in changes from school to summer in the proportion of days children met activity (−6.2%, 95CI = −10.1%, −2.3%; OR = 0.7, 95CI = 0.6, 0.9) and sleep (7.6%, 95CI = 2.9%, 12.4%; OR = 2.1, 95CI = 1.4, 3.0) guidelines between children who were Black and White were observed. Differences in changes in activity (−8.5%, 95CI = −4.9%, −12.1%; OR = 1.5, 95CI = 1.3, 1.8) were observed between children eligible versus uneligible for FRPL.

Conclusions

Summer vacation may be an important time for targeting activity and screen-time of children who are Black and/or eligible for FRPL.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1002/osp4.532

Publication Info

Published in Obesity Science and Practice, Volume 7, Issue 6, 2021, pages 719-726.

Rights

© 2021 The Authors. Obesity Science & Practice published by World Obesity and The Obesity Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

APA Citation

Hunt, E. T., Klinggraeff, L., Jones, A., Burkart, S., Dugger, R., Armstrong, B., Beets, M. W., Turner‐McGrievy, G., Geraci, M., & Weaver, R. G. (2021). Differences in the proportion of children meeting behavior guidelines between summer and school by socioeconomic status and race. Obesity Science & Practice, 7(6), 719–726. https://doi.org/10.1002/osp4.532