Description
The purpose of this study was to determine if a television in a child's bedroom is related to his/her risk for obesity through reduced sleep duration. Social Cognitive Theory provided the theoretical framework for this study. Data were collected through interviews with 104 caregivers who are participants in the intervention LUCES de Cambio. Caregivers were asked to report the typical bedtime and wake times of their child to determine average nightly sleep duration. The interview asked the caregivers to also report whether there was a television in the child's bedroom. Baseline measurements were taken of the child's height and weight to determine the child's BMI percentile. Relationships were assessed with linear regression including bivariate and multivariate analyses. The children were Hispanic and had a mean age of 7.9 (SD=1.3). Fifty-seven percent of caregivers had a family monthly income of less than $2000 and 40% had less than a high school education. The average BMI percentile for children was 90.8 (SD=6.4). Twenty-one percent of the children had a healthy weight, 43% were overweight, and 39.5% were obese. There was a trend in the relationship between the presence of a television in the bedroom and a child's BMI percentile. No significant relationship was found between sleep duration and a child's BMI percentile. These findings suggest that it is important to investigate the impact of televisions in the bedroom on a child's risk for obesity. Due to limitations in parent-reported sleep duration, future research should consider using objective measurements, such as an actigraph, to more precisely investigate the relationship between sleep and obesity risk in children.
