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Title: Convergent validity of preschool children's television viewing measures among low-income Latino families: a cross-sectional study

Author
item MENDOZA, JASON - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item MCLEOD, JESSICA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item CHEN, TZU-AN - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item NICKLAS, THERESA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item BARANOWSKI, TOM - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)

Submitted to: Childhood Obesity
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/27/2012
Publication Date: 2/1/2013
Citation: Mendoza, J.A., Mcleod, J., Chen, T., Nicklas, T.A., Baranowski, T. 2013. Convergent validity of preschool children's television viewing measures among low-income Latino families: a cross-sectional study. Childhood Obesity. 9(1):29-34.

Interpretive Summary: Television viewing has been linked to many important health outcomes, like childhood obesity. Accurately measuring children’s television viewing is necessary and studies on the accuracy of measuring television viewing among Latino children are few. We compared four different measures of television viewing among Latino preschool children enrolled in the Head Start Program in Houston, Texas. The TV Diary, a survey filled out by parents every day for 7-days, was the most reliable measure of children’s television viewing followed by the TV Allowance, an electronic device that automatically measures television viewing. Both methods are feasible and reliable for measuring Latino children’s television viewing.

Technical Abstract: Television viewing is an important modifiable risk factor for childhood obesity. However, valid methods for measuring children's TV viewing are sparse and few studies have included Latinos, a population disproportionately affected by obesity. The goal of this study was to test the reliability and convergent validity of four TV viewing measures among low-income Latino preschool children in the United States. Latino children (n=96) ages 3-5 years old were recruited from four Head Start centers in Houston, Texas (January, 2009, to June, 2010). TV viewing was measured concurrently over 7 days by four methods: (1) TV diaries (parent reported), (2) sedentary time (accelerometry), (3) TV Allowance (an electronic TV power meter), and (4) Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) on personal digital assistants (parent reported). This 7-day procedure was repeated 3-4 weeks later. Test-retest reliability was determined by intraclass correlations (ICC). Spearman correlations (due to nonnormal distributions) were used to determine convergent validity compared to the TV diary. The TV diary had the highest test-retest reliability (ICC=0.82, p<0.001), followed by the TV Allowance (ICC=0.69, p<0.001), EMA (ICC=0.46, p<0.001), and accelerometry (ICC=0.36-0.38, p<0.01). The TV Allowance (r=0.45-0.55, p<0.001) and EMA (r=0.47-0.51, p<0.001) methods were significantly correlated with TV diaries. Accelerometer-determined sedentary minutes were not correlated with TV diaries. The TV Allowance and EMA methods were significantly correlated with each other (r=0.48-0.53, p<0.001).The TV diary is feasible and is the most reliable method for measuring US Latino preschool children's TV viewing.