Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health

, Volume 19, Issue 2, pp 430–447 | Cite as

Home Environmental Influences on Childhood Obesity in the Latino Population: A Decade Review of Literature

Review Paper
First Online:

Abstract

Latinos are the largest and fastest-growing ethnically diverse group in the United States. Latino children are also among the most overweight and obese ethnic groups of children in the United States. Research over the last decade has identified the home environment as a key influence on the diet and physical activity of children. To summarize cross-sectional and longitudinal research that has identified factors within the home environment of Latino families that are associated with childhood obesity and to provide recommendations for future research and intervention development with Latino families. A decade review from 2005 to 2015 was conducted. Studies identifying factors within the home environments of Latino families that were associated with childhood obesity were examined. Five main factors were identified across the literature as home environment factors that are associated with childhood obesity in Latino children. These factors included: parental influences (e.g., parent feeding practices, modeling), screen time, physical activity/sedentary behavior, socioeconomic status/food security and sleep duration. The current review identified several home environment factors that may contribute to the disparities in childhood obesity for Latino children. Results from this review such as, focusing on decreasing controlling parent feeding practices, and increasing parent modeling of healthy behaviors and child sleep duration, can be used in developing culturally-specific interventions for Latino children.

Keywords

Childhood obesity Home food environment Latino Latina Hispanic Influences 
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Notes

Funding

This study was funded by Grant Number R01HL126171 (Berge PI) from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Disease or the National Institutes of Health.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of interest

Berge has received research grants from the National Institutes of Health. Berge declares that she has no other conflicts of interest. Ochoa declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the University of Minnesota IRB.

Informed Consent

Informed consent and/or assent was reported in all studies included in this review paper.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Family Medicine and Community HealthUniversity of MinnesotaMinneapolisUSA

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