Pathway of the Association Between Child Poverty and Low Self-Esteem: Results From a Population-Based Study of Adolescents in Japan

Child poverty leads to various negative consequences, including low self-esteem, which is a risk factor for mental illness, suicide, or poor academic achievement. However, little is known about why child poverty leads to low self-esteem. We aimed to elucidate the association of child poverty and low self-esteem based on the ecological model, which includes family-level, school-level, and community-level factors. Data were obtained from the Adachi Child Health Impact of Living Difficulty (A-CHILD) study in 2016, and participants included 1,652 children in fourth grade (534 pairs), sixth grade (530 pairs), and eighth grade (588 pairs) living in Adachi City, Tokyo, Japan. A questionnaire survey was implemented to assess child poverty, parental mental health, parental involvement with children, parental social capital by caregivers, and self-esteem and school social capital by children. The structural equation model was applied to elucidate the association between child poverty and low self-esteem, using family-level (parental mental health and parental involvement with children), school-level (school social capital), and community-level (parental social capital) factors. Child poverty was associated with low self-esteem. Child poverty leads to poor parental involvement, which can be indirectly associated with poor parental mental health and poor parental social capital, and poor parental involvement was directly or indirectly associated with low self-esteem through poor school social capital. To mitigate the impact of child poverty on low self-esteem, comprehensive health policies targeting family-level (parental mental health and parental involvement with children), school-level (school social capital), and community-level (parental social capital) factors may be effective

Parental Time of Returning Home From Work and Child Mental Health Among First-Year Primary School Students in Japan: Result From A-CHILD Study

Introduction: Child mental health is known to be influenced by parental work hours. Although literature suggests that parent-child interaction mediates the association, few studies have directly measured the parental time of returning home from work. We analyzed data from a school-based survey to examine the association between parental time of returning home from work and child mental health.Methods: We used a sample of 2,987 first-year primary school students derived from the Adachi Child Health Impact of Living Difficulty (A-CHILD) study that examined the impact of family environment and lifestyle on child health in Adachi City, Tokyo, Japan. We analyzed the associations between reported parental time of returning home and the continuous Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) scores using multivariable regression modeling.Results: Children whose parents both returned home late (later than 6 p.m. for the mother and later than 8 p.m. for the father), or at irregular times, had higher scores in total difficulties (β = 1.20, 95% CI: 0.55 to 1.85), the “conduct problems” subscale (β = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.13 to 0.60), and the hyperactivity/inattention subscale (β = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.24 to 0.82) compared with children whose parents both returned home earlier. Mediation analyses indicated that the percentage of the total association between parental time of returning home and the SDQ scores, which was mediated by parent-child interaction, was 20% (95% CI: 10 to 46) for total difficulties, 17% (95% CI: 7 to 49) for conduct problems, and 23% (95% CI: 11 to 52) for hyperactivity/inattention.Conclusions: Late or irregular returning home times for both parents had an adverse effect on child mental health, and the relationship was partly mediated by reduced frequency of parent-child interaction

Association of Nursery School-Level Promotion of Vegetable Eating with Caregiver-Reported Vegetable Consumption Behaviours among Preschool Children: A Multilevel Analysis of Japanese Children

Nursery schools can play an important role in children developing healthy eating behaviours, including vegetable consumption. However, the effect of school-level vegetable promotion on vegetable consumption and body mass index (BMI) remains unclear. This study examined the associations of nursery school-level promotion of eating vegetables first at meals with Japanese children’s vegetable consumption behaviours and BMI. We used cross-sectional data collected in 2015, 2016, and 2017 on 7402 children in classes of 3–5-year-olds in all 133 licensed nursery schools in Adachi, Tokyo, Japan. Caregivers were surveyed on their children’s eating behaviours (frequency of eating vegetables, willingness to eat vegetables and number of kinds of vegetables eaten), height and weight. Nursery school-level promotion of eating vegetables first at meals was assessed using individual responses, with the percentage of caregivers reporting that their children ate vegetables first at meals as a proxy for the school-level penetration of the promotion of vegetable eating. Multilevel analyses were conducted to investigate the associations of school-level vegetable-eating promotion with vegetable consumption behaviours and BMI. Children in schools that were 1 interquartile range higher on vegetable promotion ate vegetable dishes more often (β = 0.04; 95% CI: 0.004–0.07), and were more often willing to eat vegetables (adjusted odds ratio = 1.17; 95% CI: 1.07–1.28), as well as to eat more kinds of vegetables (adjusted odds ratio = 1.19 times; 95% CI: 1.06–1.34). School-level vegetable-eating promotion was not associated with BMI. The school-level health strategy of eating vegetables first may be effective in increasing children’s vegetable intake but not in preventing being overweight