Parent factors associated with BMI, diet, and physical activity of adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Background: Adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience overweight and obesity (OW/OB) up to 1.8 times the rate of their typically developing peers. Parents may influence adolescent weight management behaviors in this population, but the association between parent factors and adolescent weight management behaviors is unclear.

Objective: To examine the associations between parent BMI and sociodemographic characteristics with adolescents' BMI, diet quality, daily energy intake, moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and sedentary behavior.

Methods: This study analyzed baseline data from an 18-month randomized controlled weight loss trial for adolescents with IDD. We assessed parent BMI (kg/m) and sociodemographic factors, and adolescent BMI z-score, MVPA, sedentary time, daily energy intake, and diet quality. Associations between parent and adolescent factors were assessed with Pearson, Spearman or Kendall Tau-b correlations; mean differences for categorical outcomes were assessed with independent samples t-tests/Mann-Whitney U tests or ANOVA/Kruskall-Wallis tests.

Results: Ninety-five adolescent and parent dyads were included. Parent BMI was positively correlated with adolescent BMI z-score (n = 94: r = 0.37, p < 0.01). Household income was inversely correlated with adolescent BMI z-score (n = 95: T = -0.18, p = 0.02). Parents with less than a bachelor's degree had adolescents with higher BMI z-scores than those with bachelor's or higher (2.1 ± 0.5 vs. 1.8 ± 0.5, p = 0.02) as well as higher sedentary behavior (n = 28, 515.2 ± 102.6 min/day vs. n = 40, 463.9 ± 148.1 min/day, p = 0.02).

Conclusion: We found parent BMI, income, and education associated with adolescent BMI z-score. These findings contribute to the sparse literature on parental factors associated with OW/OB in this population.

Clinical Trials Number: NCT02561754.