Health Behaviors Among Families of Children with Developmental Delay

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Date

2021-11-23

Authors

Halladay, Lauren

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Volume Title

Publisher

University of Oregon

Abstract

When compared to typically developing children, children with developmental delays (DD) are at especially high risk for poor health outcomes. Several interpersonal factors, including caregiver behaviors, have been examined in relation to typically developing preschool children’s health. Limited research has examined these associations in the DD population. The following preliminary study sought to provide a preliminary evaluation of the associations between caregiver health behaviors and health behaviors of preschool-aged children with DD in a sample of 77 families. Surveys and interviews were completed with caregivers to assess sociodemographic variables, child adaptive behavior and autism symptoms, and family lifestyle and health behaviors. This study included the following research questions: (1) Are family sociodemographic variables (i.e., caregiver education, household income, caregiver race/ethnicity) associated with caregiver health behaviors (i.e., caregiver eating habits and physical activity)? (2) Are caregiver health behaviors (i.e., caregiver eating habits and physical activity) associated with child heath behaviors (i.e., child unhealthy eating, physical activity, and screen time)? (3) Does child developmental functioning (i.e., adaptive behavior and autism symptoms) moderate the association between caregiver health behaviors and child health behaviors? Study results for the first research question indicated neither caregiver race, caregiver education, nor household income, were meaningfully associated with caregiver health behaviors. The second research question revealed that 1) caregiver health behaviors were negatively associated with child unhealthy eating habits and positively child physical activity, but not meaningfully associated with child screen time. Results for research question three demonstrated that 1) the relation between caregiver health behaviors and child unhealthy eating was moderated by child adaptive behavior and 2) the relation between caregiver health behaviors and child unhealthy eating was moderated by child ASD symptomatology, 3) neither child adaptive behavior functioning nor child ASD symptomatology moderated the association between caregiver health behaviors and child physical activity or caregiver health behaviors and child screen time. The results of this study have implications for the development of interventions for families of children with developmental delays.

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Keywords

developmental delay, eating habits, health behaviors, physical activity, preschool, screen time

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