How does parents' social support impact children's health practice? Examining a mediating role of health knowledge

• Main Authors: STRAUGHAN, Paulin Tay, XU, Chengwei
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: Childhood obesity; Health knowledge; Health practice; Social support; Social determinants; Weight management; Family, Life Course, and Society; Mental and Social Health
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3657; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4915/viewcontent/v1_covered.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Background: Many existing studies have found that social support and health knowledge positively affect an individual's health status. However, it is still unclear how parents’ social support and health knowledge influence their children’s obesity. The present study hypothesizes that parents’ health knowledge has a mediating effect on the relationship between social support and children’s health practice regarding weight management. Methods: To test the hypothesis, we conducted a questionnaire survey in Singapore and collected a nationally representative sample of 1488 household responses. Structural equation modeling (SEM) via Stata was used to examine the indirect effects of parents’ social support on children’s health practice. Results: The results of our analysis support our hypothesis. Specifically, (1) parental perceived social support shows a positive relationship with health knowledge (e.g., BMI and nutrition knowledge); (2) parents’ social support and health knowledge positively associate with children’s health practice in weight management (e.g., physical exercises); and (3) a significant amount of indirect effects of parental social support is mediated by parents’ health knowledge. Conclusion: The current study tests a mediation model that bridges social support theories, health knowledge literature, and childhood obesity research. The present study provides fresh evidence from a multi-cultural context to understand the relationships between parents’ health knowledge and social support and children’s obesity-related health practices. Our findings support the argument that social support from parents’ social networks does not necessarily promote health outcomes. The only social support that carries proper health knowledge can facilitate good health practices. The policy implications of promoting health practice through social support and health knowledge are discussed.