Search

This study examined the relationship between the accuracy of parental reporting of children's sleep duration compared to objectively measured child sleep and tested whether any discrepancies were related to childhood obesity prevalence in a sample of Latinx families (N = 119). A paired sample t-test revealed that parents significantly overestimated their child's sleep duration by 1.33 hours, t (86) = 6.69, p <.001. Using a one-way ANOVA, no significant differences were found in children's BMI percentile when grouped by the parent's accuracy of their child's sleep duration F (3, 83) =.76, p =.52. A potential, although non-significant, trend regarding parent accuracy and child BMI may merit further examination. Future research should seek to determine if the discrepancy in parent reported child sleep duration is indeed linked with increased child BMI and if this knowledge could be used in targeted intervention efforts to reduce childhood obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although high school completion rates for Latinx adolescents have improved, rural Latinx youth experience more barriers to academic success than their urban counterparts. Using a culturally informed model, we tested prospective associations between adolescents' Wave 1 familism values (cultural values emphasizing the importance of family relationships and connections) and Wave 2 academic competencies in a sample of predominantly rural Latinx adolescents (N = 123) in the U.S. Midwest. We also examined whether youth-reports of mother's and father's warm parenting at Wave 1 and 2 moderated these associations. Familism values predicted higher self-reported school attachment and academic aspirations and expectations. Neither maternal nor paternal warmth predicted school attachment, academic aspirations, or academic expectations. Maternal warmth at Wave 2, but not at Wave 1, moderated the positive associations between familism and academic aspirations and expectations. These associations were more pronounced under circumstances of low maternal warmth. Paternal warmth did not significantly moderate the proposed associations predicting academic aspirations and expectations. Paternal warmth at Wave 1, but not at Wave 2, moderated the positive association between familism and school attachment. This association was stronger in the context of low paternal warmth. Results emphasize the joint roles of culture and parenting context for fostering academic competence in Latinx youth living in primarily rural regions of the Midwest during a critical developmental stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although numerous physical and mental health benefits for children have been linked to family dinners, many families still do not have regular family meals together. This study sought to identify the barriers that keep families from having dinners together. Methods: We interviewed 42 parents of 5-to-8-year-old children in small focus groups to identify barriers and challenges that keep families from having healthy and consistent dinners together. Results: Parents reported the main barriers were time (e.g., time strain and overscheduling, mismatched schedules, long work hours, etc.), lack of meal planning or failure to follow plans, lack of skills (e.g., cooking skills or nutritional awareness), external factors (e.g., daycare, schools, or extended family, and competing with advertising), and food-related challenges (e.g., picky eating, food allergies). Parents also suggested potential solutions to overcome these barriers. Conclusions: Overall, parents had a desire to have family dinners with their children, but they felt that there are many barriers keeping them from establishing or maintaining consistent family mealtimes. Future research, as well as child obesity prevention and intervention efforts, should consider these barriers and suggested solutions in efforts to promote healthy and consistent family meals as a means of lowering the prevalence of childhood obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine relationships between frequency of adolescents eating alone (dependent variable) and diet, weight status and perceived food-related parenting practices (independent variables).Design: Analyses of publicly available, cross-sectional, web-based survey data from adolescents.Setting: Online consumer opinion panel.Subjects: A US nationwide sample of adolescents (12-17 years) completed Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating (FLASHE) Study surveys to report demographic and family meal characteristics, weight, dietary intake, home food availability and perceptions of parenting practices. Parents provided information about demographic characteristics. Logistic regression analyses were used to test for associations between variables.Results: About 20 % of adolescents reported often eating alone (n 343) v. not often eating alone (n 1309). Adjusted odds of adolescents often eating alone were significantly higher for non-Hispanic Black compared with non-Hispanic White adolescents (OR=1·7) and for overweight or obese compared with normal- or underweight adolescents (OR=1·6). Adjusted odds of adolescents eating alone were significantly lower for those who reported that fruits and vegetables were often/always available in the home (OR=0·65), for those who perceived that parents had expectations about fruit and vegetable intake (OR=0·71) and for those who agreed with parental authority to make rules about intake of junk food/sugary drinks (OR=0·71). Junk food and sugary drink daily intake frequency was positively associated with often eating alone.Conclusions: Often eating alone was related to being overweight/obese, having less healthy dietary intake and perceptions of less supportive food-related parenting practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using electrocardiogram data with 78 six-month-old infants, this study examined the presence or absence of brief orienting bradycardia during the onset of maternal arm-restraint and subsequent differences between infants on behavioral organization during restraint. Results showed that 45 of the infants exhibited brief episodes of bradycardia at the onset of arm-restraint. Group comparisons showed infants exhibiting bradycardia to have greater emotional reactivity during the arm-restraint protocol, which included a shorter latency to cry, decreased orientation toward mother, increased escape attempts during restraint, greater intensity of crying, and longer duration of crying than non-bradycardiac infants. These findings suggest that bradycardia at the outset of a mild perturbation episode may signal infants' attention to the emotional content of novel dyadic interactions and the disruption of expectancies in ongoing interactions, leading them to become distressed more quickly, turn their attention away from mom, and attempt to escape the restraint with greater vigor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: The BreathID ® Hp urea breath test provides several advantages over other 13C breath analyzers for the detection of Helicobacter pylori. We evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of a new BreathID ® Hp Lab System (Exalenz Bioscience Ltd, Israel), a 13C-urea breath test system using breath sampling bags that facilitates multiple testing in a multicenter international clinical study. Methods: A total of 257 subjects with evaluable results for urea breath test, rapid urease test, and histology were enrolled into two study groups: 189 naïve subjects were included in the pre-therapy group, and 68 subjects comprised the post-eradication therapy group. Analytical studies were conducted to evaluate the stability, reproducibility, and repeatability of the 13C-urea breath test results using a delta over baseline cut-off value of 5. Results: Among the pre-therapy subjects evaluated with the composite results from the rapid urease test and histology/immunohistochemistry, 176 results matched those of the urea breath test, resulting in an overall agreement of 98.3% with a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 97.9%. In the post-eradication therapy cohort, the overall agreement between the urea breath test and the biopsy diagnosis was 98.5%; the sensitivity of the urea breath test in this cohort was 92.3% and the specificity was 100%. There was uniformly high overall reproducibility (99.48%) of the test results over different batches of breath sample bags, when analyzed on different days and under different storage conditions, showing stability of the breath samples in the breath collection bags Conclusion: The BreathID ® Hp Lab System is a highly accurate and dependable method for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]