Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)2022-06-302022-06-302018-09-25Rahman, A., Fulda, K. G., Franks, S. F., Fernando, S. I., Habiba, N., & Muzaffar, O. (2018). How often parents make decisions with their children is associated with obesity. BMC pediatrics, 18(1), 311. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-018-1283-81471-2431https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12503/31240Background: Evidence supports that better parental involvement and communication are related to reduced obesity in children. Parent-child collaborative decision-making is associated with lower BMI among children; while child-unilateral and parent-unilateral decision-making are associated with overweight children. However, little is known about associations between joint decision-making and obesity among Hispanic youth. The purpose of this analysis was to determine the relationship between parent-child decision making and obesity in a sample of predominantly Hispanic adolescents. Methods: Data from two studies focused on risk for type II diabetes were analyzed. A total of 298 adolescents 10-14 years of age and their parent/legal guardian were included. Parents completed questionnaires related to psychosocial, family functioning, and environmental factors. Multiple logistic regression was used to determine the association between obesity (≥ 95th percentile for age and gender), the dependent variable, and how often the parent felt they made decisions together with their child (rarely/never, sometimes, usually, always), the primary independent variable. Covariates included gender, age, ethnicity, total family income, and days participated in a physical activity for at least 20 min. ORs and 95% CIs were calculated. Results: Adolescent participants were predominantly Hispanic n = 233 (78.2%), and approximately half n = 150 (50.3%) were female. In multivariate analyses, adolescents who rarely/never made decisions together with their family had significantly higher odds (OR = 3.50; 95% CI [1.25-9.83]) of being obese than those who always did. No association was observed between either those who sometimes make decisions together or those who usually did and those that always did. Conclusions: Parents and children not making decisions together, an essential aspect of parent-child communication, is associated with increased childhood obesity. The results of our study contribute to evidence of parental involvement in decision-making as an important determinant of adolescent health. Further studies should explore temporal relationships between parenting or communication style and obesity.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/adolescent - parent communicationdecision making between parents and adolescentsAdolescentChildCross-Sectional StudiesDecision MakingDiabetes Mellitus, Type 2FemaleHispanic or LatinoHumansMaleParent-Child RelationsParentsPediatric ObesityTexasObesityAlzheimer DiseaseBrain-Derived Neurotrophic FactorArticleCopyright © The Author(s). 2018181