Socio-economic inequalities in body mass index among preschool children: do sports programs in early childhood education and care centers make a difference?

ABSTRACT:

Background

Overweight in childhood is considered to be one of the most serious public health challenges. Many studies have investigated individual-level determinants of children's body mass index (BMI), yet studies exploring determinants at the meso-level are sparse. The aim of our study was to examine how a sports focus at early childhood education and care (ECEC) centers moderates the effect of parental socio-economic position (SEP) on children's BMI.

Methods

We used data from the German National Educational Panel Study and included 1,891 children (955 boys and 936 girls) from 224 ECEC centers in our analysis. Linear multilevel regressions were used to estimate the main effects of family SEP and the ECEC center sports focus, as well as their interaction, on children's BMI.

SUBMITTER: Mayer A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10325856 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature