Health related behaviours among mothers of preschool children

Conference Paper

2013

Objective: To examine the effect of younger versus older children in the family (ages <6 vs. 6-11

years) on the mother’s physical activity, and smoking status. Methods: We studied all women

who participated in the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), 2009-2010, were 18-59

years old and had at least one child aged <11 years. The CCHS is a multi-stage health survey

involving 124,188 respondents who form a representative sample of the Canadian population.

Mothers with at least one child aged <6 years were contrasted with mothers with at least one

child aged 6-11 years but no younger children. The association with low physical activity (<15

minutes/day), and smoking (occasional or regular vs. none) was quantified using odds ratios

(OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Logistic regression was used to adjust for maternal age,

marital status, education, household size, income, and employment status. Results: Among

11,380 women in the study, 65.4% had younger children, 63.1% had low physical activity and

23.7% smoked. The odds of low physical activity were 1.25 times greater among mothers of

younger vs. older children (adjusted OR = 1.25, 95% CI 1.15-1.37). In contrast, the odds of

smoking were lower among mothers of younger children, as compared with those who had older

children (adjusted OR = 0.77, 95% CI0.69-0.86). Conclusions: Mothers of young children were

less likely to smoke; however, they were more likely to be less physical active. Support and

effective strategies are required to help mothers with young children increase their physical

activity.

• Conference Location: Boston, Massachusetts
• Conference Name: 26th Annual Meeting of SOCIETY FOR PEDIATRIC AND PERINATAL EPIDEMIOLOGIC RESEARCH