Family structure, time-use and adolescent obesity: A longitudinal study.

这项研究项目的总体目标是利用千年队列研究(MCS)的新数据，更好地理解时间分配和日常活动与青少年肥胖的关系。儿童肥胖症的数字一直在全球范围内迅速增长，特别是在资源丰富的国家。根据英国政府的数据，在英国，年龄在2岁到15岁之间的儿童中，大约有三分之一患有肥胖症。考虑到肥胖个人面临的严重健康影响以及政府在相关医疗方面增加的支出，英国政府的目标是在未来十年内大幅减少肥胖儿童的数量。然而，影响儿童肥胖的确切因素尚不清楚，这让政策制定者质疑哪些政策会在长期内真正产生影响。该项目位于生态系统方法的范围内，目前被认为是预测儿童和青少年肥胖相关因素的最有效方法。将使用的数据集是千年队列研究，这是一项多学科、具有全国代表性的纵向研究，跟踪调查了2000年至2002年期间出生的大约19000名儿童，目前包括6波数据收集。这一丰富的数据集将使我能够研究生物、行为和环境因素在肥胖结果中的作用。此外，MCS的纵向结构将允许检查家庭结构的变化和稳定性。我认为，MCS在肥胖研究方面的一大优势是最近收集的时间使用日记的数据。时间日记是目前评估时间使用情况的最准确和最可靠的数据收集工具，显示出可将测量误差降至最低。与收集有限数量预先选择的活动信息的调查问卷不同，时间日记提供了日常生活的整体图景，包括顺序、时间、他人的共存和地点等信息。因此，时间日记将让我更好地了解肥胖与不同的活动类型之间的关系，并解决一些有趣的研究问题，例如参与室内、户外或有组织的休闲活动是否与青少年肥胖风险较低有关。MCS的孩子们还得到了一个加速计；这是一个监测运动的手镯，戴在计时日记的同一天。因此，我的研究可以进一步受益于这种创新形式的数据，它提供了关于久坐的生活方式和能量消耗的信息。这项研究项目旨在产生重要的学术和方法论见解；它旨在增加现有关于家庭和儿童研究中与儿童相关的结果的文献，并增加时间日记分析的方法，同时通过建议潜在的方法来扭转儿童肥胖率的上升，从而对公共卫生做出知情的贡献。

The overarching aim of this research project is to achieve a better understanding of the relationship of time allocation and everyday activities with adolescent obesity, capitalizing on novel data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). Childhood obesity figures have been increasing rapidly worldwide, especially in resource-rich countries. According to the UK government, approximately one out of three children, aged between 2 and 15 in the UK, are obese. Considering the serious health implications that obese individuals face and the increased government spending for relevant medical treatments, the UK government aims to significantly reduce the number of obese children within the next ten years. However, the precise factors affecting childhood obesity are not yet known, leading policy makers to question which policies will actually have an impact in the long run. This project is located within the ecological systems approach, currently considered the most effective way for predicting factors associated with childhood and adolescent obesity. The dataset that will be used is the Millennium Cohort Study, a multi-disciplinary, nationally representative longitudinal study, following around 19000 children born between 2000 and 2002, currently consisting of 6 waves of data collection. This rich dataset will allow me to examine the role of biological, behavioural, and environmental factors in obesity outcomes. In addition, the longitudinal structure of MCS will allow for an examination of changes and stability of family structure. I believe that a great strength of the MCS for the study of obesity is the recent data collection of time-use diaries. Time diaries are currently the most accurate and reliable data collecting tool to assess time use, shown to minimise measurement error. Unlike survey questionnaires that collect information on a limited number of pre-selected activities, time diaries provide a holistic picture of everyday life, including information on sequence, timing, co-presence of others, and location. The time diaries will therefore allow me to better understand how obesity is associated with different activity profiles and to address interesting research questions such as whether engaging in indoor, outdoor or organised leisure activities is associated with a lower risk of adolescent obesity. Children in MCS were also given an accelerometer; a bracelet monitoring movement that was worn for the same days as the time diary. My study could therefore further benefit from this innovative form of data that provides information on sedentary lifestyles and energy expenditure.This research project aims to produce important academic and methodological insights; it intends to add to the existing literature on children related outcomes in family and childhood studies and to the methodology of time-diary analysis, while also make an informed contribution to public health by suggesting potential ways to reverse rising childhood obesity rates.