(P28-20-26) Healthy Disorder: CHAOS and Its Association to Nutrition and Activity Among Mexican Mothers and Their Children

Objectives: Pediatric obesity prevention efforts recognize families as a promising unit for intervention, but sub-optimal family relationships, and management may hinder their ability to adopt healthy behaviors. This study examined the relationship of family chaos with healthy family nutrition and physical activity behaviors among Mexican low-income families with kindergarten-aged children.

Methods: Cross-sectional data from mother-child dyads (n=58/63) recruited for the Little Hearts study who completed the 6-month follow-up in June 2024 were used. Mothers self-reported their household structure and organization by answering the Confusion, Hubbub, and Order Scale (CHAOS) long form instrument, validated for Mexican Families. We utilized the Family Nutrition and Physical Activity (FNPA) as a 20-item scale and used an overall score and 2 sub-scores for eating and other behaviors. Maternal BMI and child BMI-percentile were calculated from height and weight measurements, with child percentile accounting for age and sex. Linear regression models were used to examine the relationship of CHAOS and FNPA scores and sub-scores, adjusting for mothers age and BMI, and child age, sex, BMI-percentile and subsequently SES factors (number of household members and years of maternal education completed).

Results: Higher chaos was independently associated with higher FNPA scores, indicating healthier outcomes (β =0.41,95% Confidence Interval: 0.17, 0.65). This model accounted for 22% of variance in FNPA scores. Subsequent analyses showed that the association was primarily driven by health behaviors (β =0.32, p < 0.01). The association of CHAOS with the eating behavior subscale was non-significant (β = 0.16, p = 0.07).

Conclusions: Among Mexican families with young children, higher household chaos was associated with health-promoting behaviors. This association was driven primarily by non-eating health behaviors suggesting that, in this sample, perceived household disorganization may reflect environmental busyness rather than dysfunction.

Funding Sources: Emory University 2022 RSPH Dean’s Pilot and Innovation Grant