The Relationship Between Parental Nature Relatedness and Overweight/Obesity in Elementary School Children

Abstract

This survey based study involving 97 adult participants (86 mothers and 11 fathers) recruited at a small suburban pediatric clinic examined possible associations between parental nature relatedness and the body composition of primary school children (6-11 years). Research indicates that more nature related individuals tend to spend more active time in nature and they seem to have a more mindful approach to their food selection. These factors may contribute to a healthier lifestyle, which, if practiced in a family environment, might be negatively linked with the offspring’s body composition. It was hypothesized that parental nature relatedness, measured as a combination of three dimensions: NR-Self, NR-Perspective and NR-Experience, using the Nature Relatedness Scale, would negatively predict children’s BMI values. It was also hypothesized that the amount of time children spent playing in an outdoor natural environment, family socioeconomic status, parent’s age and the length of nursing would be inversely associated with children’s BMI values. Children’s TV/screen time and parental BMI were expected to be positively related to the dependent variable. The results of regression analyses revealed that there was no relationship between parental nature relatedness (NR-Total) and children’s BMI values. However, when focusing on the three dimensions of the NR Scale separately, an unexpected significant positive connection between NR-Self and children’s BMI values was found. Also, NR-Experience mildly predicted children’s BMI in all parents sample in the model excluding the additional independent variables. The only additional significant variable that predicted children’s BMI values in all regression models was the amount of time children spend actively in nature. No statistically significant cross-correlations among the additional independent variables were detected. Overall, the results indicate that it might be the practical aspect involving physical activity that is negatively linked with children’s body composition. The study has numerous limitations, such as a relatively small sample size, small achieved Cronbach’s Alpha values, self-reported data, etc. Further research might address these factors.