Understanding the Family Social Environment in Preadolescent Children

Abstract

The primary aim of this dissertation was to investigate the role of the family social environment in preadolescent children’s health behavior of fruit and vegetable consumption. Guided by Family Systems Theory and Social Cognitive Theory, two cross-sectional secondary data analysis research studies were conducted. Data were obtained from the Healthy Home Offerings via the Mealtime Environment (HOME) Plus study. Participants of the HOME Plus study were 160, 8- to 12-year-old children and their primary meal-preparing parents/guardians. The first study identified distinct family social environment typologies with respect to family composition and family interaction by using latent class analysis. The second study examined associations between the family social environment typologies, parent support for child fruit and vegetable consumption, family’s socioeconomic status and child fruit and vegetable consumption utilizing structural equation modeling. The identification of three family social environment typologies suggests that family social environment is a complex concept which supports the need for consideration of family composition and family interaction in future efforts that aim to measure the family social environment. Although not statistically significant, study findings also suggested parent support for child fruit and vegetable consumption may vary by the family social environment typologies.