Family healthy habits: what passes down from adults to children?

According to WHO noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are responsible for 70% of deaths worldwide. The main causes of NCDs are overweight, obesity, high blood pressure and cholesterol, primarily induced by the use of tobacco, unhealthy dietary habits, lack of physical activity and alcohol consumption. Among “virtuous” behaviors, adopting healthy eating patterns and practicing regularly physical activity, if learnt since childhood and initiated in early life, may have immediate benefits as well as reduce chronic disease risk when carried into adulthood. To promote the early adoption of such healthy practices family has always played a key role. Nevertheless, the environments in which children are growing are deeply and rapidly changing and the centrality of the family in shaping children habits is being called into question. Such a change can be ascribed to several reasons including less time spent at home by children and parents but also low adoption of healthy habits by parents themselves. Given the above-mentioned statements, the objective of the research is thus understanding which behaviors are passed down from adults to children distinguishing if they are advisable or not and what are the determinants influencing the pass-through of “virtuous” behaviors. The study can provide important insights to more incisively design public policies aiming at promoting healthy and educational habits among children. Understanding how children age and gender affect the adoption of healthy behavior is critical in order to more effectively address key targets. Likewise, identifying in which environments certain habits are more prone to be adopted can improve the overall effectiveness of health promotion interventions. The overall attempt of the research is to contribute at answering to the increasingly more urgent demand for consumer orientation toward healthier consumption patterns. The relevance of the issue becomes even more critical if the consumers in question are the younger generations.