Household chaos in rural families: Exploring the relationship between child physical activity, sedentary behavior, and screen-time with the home environment

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Regular physical activity (PA) and limited sedentary behavior (SB) and screen-time are essential for children’s health. Household chaos (HHchaos), defined as disorganization characterized by noise and crowding, has been linked with negative health and behavioral outcomes in children. MAIN PURPOSE: To examine associations between child PA, SB and screen-time with HHchaos in rural children. METHODS: One-hundred-and-five parent/child dyads were enrolled in NU-HOME, a family-based, obesity prevention RCT. Baseline data from participants were analyzed using SAS 9.4. RESULTS: Children were 8.96±1.05 years old, 58% female and 53% normal weight. Mean daily total PA, SB, and screen-time were 259.1±58.22 minutes, 499.9±77.46 minutes, and 2.1±1.42 hours, respectively. Unadjusted HHchaos scores (mean=5.04±3.6) were not significantly associated with child PA or SB but were positively associated with child screen-time (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings related to screen-time align with current literature. However, the relationship between HHchaos with PA and SB need to be explored further.