How do Central American Parents in the United States View the Importance of and Obtain Information About Behaviors Associated with the Risk of Early Childhood Obesity?

Abstract

Background: Data suggest that Latinx preschool-age children are at increased risk of obesity. The fastest-growing Latinx population in the United States originates from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, also known as the Northern Triangle countries. Purpose: To describe how Central American parents from the Northern Triangle countries perceive the importance of energy balance-related behaviors (EBRBs), their preferred sources to obtain information about EBRBs, and to assess whether these differ by parent's gender and country of the nativity. Methods: Cross-sectional survey. Results: Seventy-four parents with at least one child between 2 and 5 years of age participated in the study. More than half were immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and were classified as having low acculturation. Mothers perceived consuming >5 fruits and vegetables daily, limiting sugar-sweetened beverages consumption, and having <2 hours daily screen time as extremely important, whereas fathers perceived these behaviors as being less important. Although a higher proportion of foreign-born than US-born parents perceived most of the assessed EBRBs (4 out of 6) as extremely important, these differences were not significant. Parents reported multiple sources to obtain EBRB-related information. Direct person-to-person interactions were the most commonly preferred sources, with pediatricians being the top source (97.3%), followed by other parents (86.5%), and WIC professionals (74.3%). Pediatricians were the preferred source to obtain information about EBRBs, irrespective of parent's gender and country of the nativity. A higher proportion of US-born than foreign-born parents reported a preference to obtain EBRB-related information from other parents. Conclusions: Findings suggest the significance of understanding how Central American parents perceive the importance of EBRBs and the sources they would prefer to obtain information for their children's EBRBs. Study findings have implications for health education and obesity prevention interventions designed to reach and deliver key evidence-based child health information to Central American parents from the Northern Triangle countries in the United States.

Keywords: Central American; Northern triangle; child; energy balance-related behaviors; immigrant; obesity; parents; preschool.