Externalizing behavior is prospectively associated with intake of added sugar and sodium among low socioeconomic status preschoolers in a sex-specific manner

Table 1 Characteristics of the study population

Baseline child and household correlates	Mean ± SD (unless otherwise specified)
Child’s age, months	49.5 ± 6.2
Male sex, %	48
Overweight/obese, %	34
Physical activity, hours/wk^a	18.5 ± 10.9
Screen time, hours/day^b	2.6 ± 1.6
Added sugar intake, % of total Calories^c	12.9 ± 6.1
Sodium intake, mg/1000 Calories^d	1604 ± 332
Externalizing SCBE T-score^e	51.9 ± 9.4
Parent/guardian education level, %
Did not graduate HS	15
HS graduate/GED	33
Post-HS education	52
Household income-to-needs ratio^f	0.86 ± 0.54
Parent/guardian CES-D score^g
≥ 16, depressed, %	30
Child race/ethnicity
White, non-Hispanic, %	51

^aThere are not consistent physical activity recommendations for children <6 in the US, although Canadian and Australian recommendations are 3 h/day (21 h/week) [40]
^bRecommendations for children under 5 years are <2 h/day [41]
^cUS dietary recommendations are <10% of total Caloric intake from added sugar per day [20]
^dUS dietary recommendations are <2300 mg per day [20]; depending on Calorie needs which range from 1200 to 2000 Calories in this age group, that equates to >1150 mg/1000 Calories to >1917 mg/1000 Calories
^eAn externalizing SCBE T-score of 70 is considered the cutoff for externalizing behavior [6]
^fAn income-to-needs poverty ratio < 2 is classified as poverty [42, 43]
^gThe CES-D scores range from 0 to 60, with a score of 16 or greater considered at risk of clinical depression [22]

ISSN: 1479-5868