Associations Between Parent-Adolescent Health-Related Conversations and the Mealtime Environment in Hispanic Families

Objectives. To determine how health-related conversations between parents and their adolescent children are associated with mealtime media device use by adolescents. Methods. A sample of Hispanic parents (n=344; 40.4 ± 6.6 years; 89.2% female) of 6th, 7th, or 8th-grade adolescents enrolled in a parenting intervention promoting healthy nutrition and substance use prevention. Parents completed baseline surveys to self-report the frequency with which they had health- or weight-related conversations with their adolescent child, and the frequency with which the adolescent used media devices during mealtimes (television/movie watching, cellphone use/texting, hand-held gaming devices, listening to music with headphones). Associations between health-related conversations and mealtime media devices were assessed with Spearman’s rank correlations. Chi-square tests and crosstabs were used to identify differences in parents setting limits on media use during mealtime depending on adolescent gender. Independent sample t-tests were used to compare the frequency of health- and weight-related conversations and media device use during mealtime based on adolescent gender. Results. Reported conversations about healthy eating, being physically active, and general weight of the adolescent were not associated with reported use of media devices by adolescents during mealtimes. Having conversations related to the adolescent weighing too much was positively and significantly correlated with television/movie watching (r=0.213; p<0.001), talking on a cellphone (r=0.119; p=0.034), using hand-held gaming devices (r=0.131; p=0.022), and listening to music with headphones (r=0.129; p=0.022). Having conversations about exercising to lose weight was also significantly correlated with television/movie watching during mealtimes (r=0.134; p=0.017). Parents reported having more frequent conversations about weighing too much with males when compared to adolescent females (2.45 ± 1.43 vs. 1.93 ± 1.28; t-stat= 3.58; p=0.005). Parents also reported more frequent weight-related conversations overall (weight-related scale) with males when compared to female adolescents (2.73 ± 1.39 vs 2.52 ± 1.26; t-stat=1.51; p=0.024). Conclusion. Findings suggest that higher frequency of weight-related conversation is associated with higher usage of media devices during mealtimes. Whether parenting practices, parental concerns about their children’s weight, and the home mealtime environment play a role on adolescent weight status in Hispanic households warrants further investigation.