title: Differences in home food and activity environments between obese and healthy weight families of preschool children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop and test a home food and activity instrument to discriminate between the home environments of obese and healthy weight preschool children.
  
  
  METHODS
  A modified questionnaire about home environments was tested as an observation tool.
  
  
  METHODS
  Family homes.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 35 obese children with at least 1 obese caregiver were compared with 47 healthy weight children with no obese caregivers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Home observation assessments were conducted to evaluate the availability of devices supporting activity behaviors and foods based on availability, accessibility, and readiness to be eaten.
  
  
  METHODS
  Agreement statistics were conducted to analyze psychometrics and MANOVAs were conducted to assess group differences, significance, P < .05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Home observations showed acceptable agreement statistics between independent coders across food and activity items. Families of obese preschoolers were significantly less likely to have fresh vegetables available or accessible in the home, were more likely to have a television in the obese child's bedroom, and had fewer physical activity devices compared with healthy weight preschoolers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Families of young children live in home environments that were discriminatively characterized based on home observations. Future tool refinement will further clarify the impact of the home environment on early growth.
authors: Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, CO 80045, USA. Richard.Boles@UCDenver.edu
authors: Richard E
authors: RE
authors: Boles
authors: Cynthia
authors: C
authors: Scharf
authors: Stephanie S
authors: SS
authors: Filigno
authors: Brian E
authors: BE
authors: Saelens
authors: Lori J
authors: LJ
authors: Stark
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013690:Television
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