Parenting Stress and Child Obesogenic Behaviors Among Latinx/Hispanic Families

Background: Latinx/Hispanic children have disproportionately higher rates of obesity compared to Non-Hispanic White, Black, and Asian Youth (CDC, 2022). Latinx/Hispanic families experience disproportionately higher rates of poverty as well as discrimination and exclusion, which can increase family stress. The Family Stress Model (Conger et al., 2002) proposes that economic strains can increase parents’ stress, which can then deteriorate their relationships and interactions with their children. Parental disengagement could devoid children of role models for healthy lifestyles as well as redirection of obesogenic behaviors, including excessive screen time, lower physical activity, and poorer sleep. The current study tested the following hypotheses: (1) Parenting stress will negatively associate with obesogenic behaviors and family engagement, (2) Family engagement will negatively associate with obesogenic behaviors such that it indirectly accounts for the relationship between parenting stress and child obesogenic behaviors.

Method: An analytic subset of 3,616 Latinx/Hispanic children between 6-10 years old was drawn from the combined 2020 and 2021 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH). The NCSH combined these to increase the sample size and statistical power for analyses of underrepresented groups. Direct and indirect effects were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM), and all analyses were performed using Mplus 8.8. Parenting stress was assessed by the caregivers’ agreement on a 4-point scale (never, rarely, sometimes, usually) with statements about parenting challenges (e.g., child is hard to care for), higher scores depicted greater stress. Parental engagement was assessed by three ordinal items on a 4-point scale gauging the frequency that caregivers attended the child’s events, shared ideas with the child, and ate meals together as a family, with higher values representing more engagement. Obesogenic behaviors were assessed by 3 items depicting the frequency of the child’s screen time, physical activity, and sleep; all items were reverse scored such that higher values represented more screen time, sedentary behavior, and less sleep. Covariates included parental generational status, low-SES (0-199% FPL), and the child’s biological sex.

Results: The measurement and structural models demonstrated acceptable model fit, (x²₍₄₇₎= 248.757 [p<0.001], RMSEA= 0.052 [CI 0.046 - 0.058], CFI=0.982, TLI=0.972; x²₍₅₂₎= 368.494 [p<0.001], RMSEA= 0. 0.037 [CI 0.034 - 0.041], CFI=0. 973, TLI=0. 965, respectively). Parenting stress was associated with lower family engagement (b= -0.695), and family engagement was associated with lower obesogenic behaviors (b= -0.410). Contrary to hypothesis, higher levels of parenting stress was associated with lower obesogenic behaviors (-0.958, p< 0.01) . Indirect effects were statistically significant such that the relationship between parenting stress and obesogenic behaviors was accounted for, in part, by family engagement (0.067, 0.01).

Conclusion: Familismo, which entails prizing and honoring familial relationships and obligations, is a common value shared amongst Latinx/Hispanic families. The current study found that parenting stress compromises family engagement, which may be an important factor in countering obesogenic behaviors. Interestingly, parenting stress was not found to increase child obesogenic behaviors. Future studies should apply strength-based models to uncover the potential protective processes that buffer children’s obesogenic behaviors from parenting stress.