Background: Childhood obesity is increasingly recognized as a major public health challenge worldwide, and excessive sedentary screen time is emerging as a key risk factor. This study aimed to assess the recreational screen sedentary time of Chinese primary school-aged children and investigate the relationship between screen-related family factors and the outcome variable. Methods: Our study used data from a cross-sectional survey collected from fifth-grade students and their parents in Beijing, China, from April to May 2018 (n = 2,373). The questions included basic demographic information, family socioeconomic status, students’ and parents’ sedentary and exercising habits, within-family communicational factors, and health belief patterns. The recreational screen sedentary time of the children was compared across demographic groups. The study employed multivariate linear regression models to examine associations between children’s screen time and various family factors, as well as the moderating effect of overall family communication. Results: Our findings revealed an average daily recreational screen sedentary time of 2.4 h among participants. Screen time significantly varied across demographic categories, including children’s sex, age, residence, parents’ education, household income, family size, and primary family member. After adjustment, the proportion of child-owned digital devices (p < 0.01), child’s personal room (p < 0.05), family screen-viewing together (p < 0.01), and parental screen time (p < 0.01) were positively related to children’s recreational sedentary screen time. Parental restrictions on screen time (p < 0.001) and attitudes toward reducing sitting time (p < 0.01) were correlated with a decrease in children’s screen time. The overall family communication environment significantly moderated the effects of parental practice of restricting children’s screen time (p < 0.001), positive reinforcement by parents (p < 0.05), and parents’ recreational sedentary screen time (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our findings underscored the significance of family dynamics, parental practices, and communication in shaping children’s screen time behaviors, providing valuable insights for tailored interventions and strategies to reduce childhood obesity.

Background: Health behaviors developed in the college years tend to persist in adulthood. However, distinct changing patterns of food choices and physical activity (PA) and their predictors are still less clear among college students. The current study sought to explore changes of food choices and PA, as well as the effects of personal and interpersonal factors.Method: Two-wave longitudinal data was collected from a sample of 431 Chinese college students (Mean baseline age = 19.15 ± 0.61 years; 45.7% male). A validated self-reported food frequency questionnaire was used to assess the frequency of food choices. The Chinese revised version of physical activity rating scale was used to assess physical activity. Latent profile analysis, latent transition analysis, and multinomial logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the data.Results: Two profiles of food choices, i.e.,Avoiding staples(5.1% at Time 1) andVaried diet(94.9% at Time 1), were identified at both timepoints. 90.9% remained the same profiles over time, 63.6% participants in theAvoiding staplesprofile shifted to theVaried dietprofile, and only 6.3% of those in theVaried dietprofile shifted to theAvoiding staplesprofile. Negative body shape-related belief was related to the translation from theVaried dietprofile to theAvoiding staplesprofile. Further, four profiles of PA, i.e.,Inactives(51.0% at Time 1),Low activies(26.0% at Time 1),Moderate activies(15.3% at Time 1), andActivies(7.7% at Time 1), were identified at both timepoints. 50.8% remained the same profiles over time, 38.6%Inactiviesshifted to the other profiles, and 48.5%Activiesshifted to the other profiles over time. Participants with higher self-efficacy showed an increase in PA over time, and those with lower self-efficacy and lower peer support showed a decrease in PA over time.Conclusions: Overall, most of college students remained the same food choices profiles, and body shape-related belief contributed to changes in food choices profiles. About half of college students experienced changes in PA, and the predictors of such changes were peer support and self-efficacy. The findings extend the understanding of the personal and interpersonal predictors of health behaviors among college students from a dynamic perspective.