The purpose of this study was to identify typologies of families characterized by parental acceptance, parental monitoring, and family conflict, and to examine whether these family typologies were associated with the number of movement behavior recommendations met. Using LPA, we found that children from families in our sample could be meaningfully classified into one of five family typologies, ranging from ideal functioning (high acceptance, high monitoring, and low conflict) to good functioning (high acceptance, high monitoring, medium conflict) to average functioning (medium acceptance, medium monitoring, high conflict) to fair functioning (low acceptance, medium monitoring, and medium conflict) to poor functioning (medium acceptance, low monitoring, and high conflict). Using these family typologies, results from logistic regression analyses revealed that children from less-than-ideal functioning families (i.e., good, average, fair, and poor functioning) were at progressively lower odds of meeting all three movement behaviors compared to children from ideal functioning families.
These findings generally align with previous research demonstrating that families with certain qualities can either positively or negatively influence children’s health behaviors. Family qualities that have been linked with adverse health indicators among children include: family conflict; repeated episodes of anger and aggression; a lack of parental availability for, involvement in, and supervision of child activities; and relationships that are cold, unsupportive, and neglectful.(30) In most scenarios, family characteristics are examined individually, using variable-centered approaches. Our study extends previous research by using a person-centered approach to show how key family characteristics (acceptance, monitoring, and conflict) cluster together to generate homogenous family typologies. Results of our study also highlight that as the number of movement behavior recommendations increased, the odds of meeting each recommendation category (i.e., ≥ 1 recommendation, ≥ 2 recommendations, and 3 recommendations) progressively decreased within any given family typology.
Our findings should be interpreted while considering some limitations. The movement behaviors were measured using subjective assessments, which can increase measurement error and bias. More rigorous methods (e.g., objective assessments) are needed to further our understanding of the antecedents and outcomes of children’s movement behaviors. Finding ways to objectively measure screen time, in particular, should be a focus of future research. While examining total time spent on screens is important, information regarding time spent on specific platforms (e.g., Twitter, Instagram) would provide a more nuanced insight into the health impacts of screen media use among young people. Furthermore, the relationship between family factors and children’s ability to meet the movement behavior recommendations is undoubtedly complex and therefore intervening variables (moderators and mediators) should be incorporated in future analytical models. Child temperament, which represents individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation,(31) plays an important role in children’s social and psychological development. Considering child temperament when examining family typologies and the movement behaviors may help to identify individual differences among children that make them more or less likely to meet the guidelines.
Despite its limitations, our study has several strengths and makes important contributions to both the movement behavior and family health literatures. First, a methodological strength of our study was the use of LPA; classifying individuals, rather than variables, into profiles revealed that families in our sample varied on acceptance, monitoring, and conflict. Second, this study, to our knowledge, is the first to examine family typologies and their relationship with the 24-hour movement behaviors, and thus improves upon and extends current knowledge on this topic. Findings from this study could be used to help inform future family-targeted interventions aiming to improve movement behavior adherence in children. Third, the family typologies generated in our study (via LPA) can be used in future studies to determine whether similar homogenous profiles emerge across more diverse samples. If similar profiles are identified, a theoretically meaningful taxonomy of family typologies could be developed.
That children from ideal functioning families were more likely to meet all three movement behaviors than children from less-than-ideal functioning families should be of interest to health researchers and practitioners. Parents/caregivers should be focus on instilling healthy habits in the early years of their children’s lives as this may be harder as children age. Some emerging research suggests that parents of children (6–13 years) may be hesitant to impose rules restricting children’s screen time because it could potentially lead to more conflict between the dyad as well as between siblings.(32, 33) Parents have also expressed that curtailing children’s screen time would require significant energy as they would be responsible finding and creating alternative activities for their children.(33) Some parents have admitted that their children’s digital media use makes their lives a bit easier by keeping their children occupied, allowing parents to do other activities (e.g., household chores, work-related tasks).(33) Therefore, exposing children to different non-screen based activities at a young age might help to reduce parental concerns and consequences related to implementing household screen time rules.
Another important implication of our study is that coupled with high acceptance and low conflict, high parental monitoring was favorably related to children’s physical activity, screen time use, and sleep duration. This should not be confused with the notion “helicopter parenting”, which is a term used to describe parents who are potentially over-involved in the lives of their child and who micromanage their child’s life by being overly protective and unwilling to let go,(34) which is inherently different than knowing your child’s whereabouts (i.e., parental monitoring). Parents should be reminded of this difference and aim to strike a balance when supervising their child’s whereabouts. The notion that excessive monitoring can develop into helicopter parenting has been supported by empirical research whereby higher parental monitoring was associated with higher perceived helicopter parenting.(35)
To our knowledge, our study is the first to examine the associations between family typologies and movement behavior recommendations among children. Results showed that children in our sample were from one of five family typologies, ranging from ideal functioning to poor functioning. Children from less-than-ideal functioning families (i.e., good, average, fair, and poor functioning) were less likely to meet all three movement behavior recommendations compared to children from ideal functioning families. Results showed that the odds of meeting a particular movement behavior recommendation category progressively decreased as family functioning worsened. Additionally, results showed that the odds of meeting the movement behavior recommendation categories decreased as the number of recommendations met increased. These findings highlight the importance of the family environment when promoting healthy movement behaviors among children.