Parenting Practices and Child Obesity Prevention Among Hispanic Families: A Systematic Literature Review

Objectives: Child obesity remains an unresolved public health concern, disproportionately affecting Hispanic families. Interventions to enhance parenting practices and behaviors may be a promising strategy to prevent child obesity. However, there is scarce data on which parenting practices and behaviors would be effective and culturally relevant to prevent child obesity among Hispanics. Methods: This systematic review, conducted according to PRISMA guidelines, synthesized studies assessing associations or intervention effects of parenting practices and behaviors on child body mass index (BMI) or other anthropometric measure among Hispanic parent (aged ≥ 18 years)-child (aged 2-12 years) dyads. Results: Of 1,055 unique records identified, 17 studies were eligible. Most of these studies used a cross-sectional design (n=10) and child BMI z-scores or BMI-for-age-sex percentiles as the outcome variable. Parenting practices and behaviors to prevent child overweight/obesity among Hispanics included: setting limits and providing structure (e.g., limited screentime, bedtime routine consistency, mealtime structure), supporting the child to be physically active (e.g., providing transportation to places for children's physical activities), and culturally relevant diet-related behaviors (e.g., authoritative feeding practices, encouraging new foods). Across studies, higher parental BMI was associated with higher child BMI. Conclusions: Targeting parenting practices and behaviors including setting limits and providing structure, supporting the child to be physically active, and enhancing culturally relevant diet-related behaviors may be key components for interventions to prevent child obesity among Hispanic families. These results may also highlight the need to prevent child obesity at the household level to improve health outcomes for Hispanic parent-child dyads. Funding Sources: None.