Relationship of Lifestyle Habits and Health Characteristics of Parents and Children: An Epidemiological Study

Lifestyle habits and health characteristics (e.g., excess weight) acquired in childhood and adolescence have a good chance of being carried into adulthood. In this sense, seeking to understand which factors can influence these habits and/or characteristics is of paramount importance. One of these factors that can influence the health of children and adolescents are the lifestyle habits and characteristics of these young people's parents. One of the lifestyle habits that appears to be related between parents and children is physical activity. However, most studies analyze the practice of physical activity between parents and children only considering the practice of total physical activity, that is, not considering the different domains of physical activity [ i) physical efforts carried out in the work environment, occupations in the case of adults and in the school environment in the case of children and adolescents; ii) physical activities carried out during leisure time; iii) physical activities carried out in the form of active commuting], in addition to there being little information considering the different intensities of physical activity (light, moderate, vigorous and very vigorous). Another gap to be addressed is the relationship between other health variables between parents and children, including unhealthy lifestyle habits, such as smoking, eating disorders and symptoms of anxiety and depression, as well as adverse health conditions, such as the presence of chronic diseases. and overweight, would be different considering the parents' practice of physical activity, for example; whether the possible relationship between excess weight between parents and children would be similar in children of physically active parents when compared to children of insufficiently active parents. Therefore, the objective of the present study will be to verify whether the different domains and intensities of physical activity are related between parents and children, as well as to verify whether other lifestyle habits and health characteristics are related between parents and children, considering the levels of activity. physical status of parents (physically active and insufficiently active).