Change in the family food environment is associated with positive dietary change in children

Table 3 Multiple linear hierarchical regression results for baseline family food environment characteristics and change in percentage of energy from saturated fat

	β¹	Std β	95% CI		P value	Adjusted R²	Model P value
Model 1a Child characteristics						0.05	0.049
Child gender	0.4	0.1	-0.9	1.7	0.55
Child age (years)	0.3	0.2	0.04	0.5	0.02
Baseline BMI z score	-0.8	-0.3	-1.4	-0.2	0.01
Household income²	-0.3	-0.1	-0.8	0.2	0.27
Caregiver education²	0.1	0.01	-0.8	0.9	0.88
Caregiver BMI (kg/m2)	-0.01	-0.02	-0.1	0.1	0.82
Model 2a³ Knowledge and attitudes						0.12	0.006
Dairy messages (/3)	0.7	0.2	-0.1	1.4	0.07
Nutrition knowledge (/113)	-0.0001	-0.0004	-0.1	0.1	0.10
Perceived responsibility (/5)	0.8	0.2	0.1	1.5	0.03
Perceived fresh food availability (/5)	-1.1	-0.2	-2.2	0.0	0.05
Perceived adequacy of child's diet (/5)	-0.2	-0.04	-1.0	0.6	0.64
Parent’s meal preparation views (/5)	-0.4	-0.1	-1.5	0.6	0.41
Concern for weight (/5)	0.02	0.01	-0.6	0.6	0.95
Model 3a³ Parent shaping practices						0.16	<0.001
Teaching encouraging child about food (/5)	-0.7	-0.1	-2.3	0.9	0.42
Restriction (/5)	1.0	0.3	0.3	1.8	0.01
Pressure to eat (/5)	0.9	0.3	0.3	1.6	0.01
Monitoring (/5)	-0.7	-0.2	-1.6	0.1	0.08
Model 4a³ Parent behaviours and role modelling						0.07	0.049
Food involvement (/7)	0.3	0.04	-0.8	1.3	0.61
Family involvement in meal preparation (/5)	1.2	0.2	0.1	2.3	0.03
Role modelling eating behaviours (/5)	0.7	0.1	-0.3	1.8	0.18
TV interruptions to meals (/5)	0.1	0.1	-0.4	0.7	0.62

¹ Beta value represents the strength of the association with change in saturated fat (negative value for change is desirable). Therefore negative Beta means higher levels of the food environment construct were associated with greater reduction in saturated fat. Positive Beta means lower levels of the family food environment construct were associated with a greater change in saturated fat.
² Highest level of education completed (4 categories: primary school or less, some/completed high school, vocational/trade qualification, tertiary degree) and total household income (4 categories) were treated as continuous variables.
³ Analyses account for child (gender, age and BMI z score) and family demographics (household income, parent education and BMI).

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