Family structure, time-use and adolescent obesity: A longitudinal study.

The overarching aim of this research project is to achieve a better understanding of the relationship of time allocation and everyday activities with adolescent obesity, capitalizing on novel data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS).
Childhood obesity figures have been increasing rapidly worldwide, especially in resource-rich countries. According to the UK government, approximately one out of three children, aged between 2 and 15 in the UK, are obese. Considering the serious health implications that obese individuals face and the increased government spending for relevant medical treatments, the UK government aims to significantly reduce the number of obese children within the next ten years. However, the precise factors affecting childhood obesity are not yet known, leading policy makers to question which policies will actually have an impact in the long run.
This project is located within the ecological systems approach, currently considered the most effective way for predicting factors associated with childhood and adolescent obesity. The dataset that will be used is the Millennium Cohort Study, a multi-disciplinary, nationally representative longitudinal study, following around 19000 children born between 2000 and 2002, currently consisting of 6 waves of data collection. This rich dataset will allow me to examine the role of biological, behavioural, and environmental factors in obesity outcomes. In addition, the longitudinal structure of MCS will allow for an examination of changes and stability of family structure.
I believe that a great strength of the MCS for the study of obesity is the recent data collection of time-use diaries. Time diaries are currently the most accurate and reliable data collecting tool to assess time use, shown to minimise measurement error. Unlike survey questionnaires that collect information on a limited number of pre-selected activities, time diaries provide a holistic picture of everyday life, including information on sequence, timing, co-presence of others, and location. The time diaries will therefore allow me to better understand how obesity is associated with different activity profiles and to address interesting research questions such as whether engaging in indoor, outdoor or organised leisure activities is associated with a lower risk of adolescent obesity. Children in MCS were also given an accelerometer; a bracelet monitoring movement that was worn for the same days as the time diary. My study could therefore further benefit from this innovative form of data that provides information on sedentary lifestyles and energy expenditure.
This research project aims to produce important academic and methodological insights; it intends to add to the existing literature on children related outcomes in family and childhood studies and to the methodology of time-diary analysis, while also make an informed contribution to public health by suggesting potential ways to reverse rising childhood obesity rates.