Child obesity is a major public health issue with a high disease burden. Although numerous contributing factors have been identified, the family home environment is a central context of influence that requires deeper understanding. The level of organization in the family home environment may influence obesity and obesogenic behaviors, but the literature has suffered from the lack of a strong overarching construct and model to guide this area of research. Family entropy is a conceptual framework that fills this gap by representing the level of organization across the home environment. The current study empirically assesses family entropy using factor analysis in a longitudinal sample of 968 children measured yearly from Grades 3 to 6 as part of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Mixed modeling using MPLUS examined the influence of family entropy on child weight both directly and indirectly through weight-related health behaviors (i.e., sleep and physical activity), and considered the moderating role of socioeconomic status (SES). Results suggest that family entropy is comprised of distinct elements of household organization and disorganization, which are moderately related. Household disorganization may be particularly detrimental to child sleeping behavior both concurrently and over time in families of both high and low SES. The study concludes with recommendations for advancing understanding of the home environment by using nuanced measurement strategies, and incorporating support for household organization within child obesity prevention and intervention efforts.

Child obesity is a major public health issue with a high disease burden. Although numerous contributing factors have been identified, the family home environment is a central context of influence that requires deeper understanding. The level of organization in the family home environment may influence obesity and obesogenic behaviors, but the literature has suffered from the lack of a strong overarching construct and model to guide this area of research. Family entropy is a conceptual framework that fills this gap by representing the level of organization across the home environment. The current study empirically assesses family entropy using factor analysis in a longitudinal sample of 968 children measured yearly from Grades 3 to 6 as part of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Mixed modeling using MPLUS examined the influence of family entropy on child weight both directly and indirectly through weight-related health behaviors (i.e., sleep and physical activity), and considered the moderating role of socioeconomic status (SES). Results suggest that family entropy is comprised of distinct elements of household organization and disorganization, which are moderately related. Household disorganization may be particularly detrimental to child sleeping behavior both concurrently and over time in families of both high and low SES. The study concludes with recommendations for advancing understanding of the home environment by using nuanced measurement strategies, and incorporating support for household organization within child obesity prevention and intervention efforts.

Government policy affects virtually every topic of interest to health behavior researchers, from research funding to reimbursement for clinical services to application of evidence to impact health outcomes. This paper provides a 6-year update on the expansion of Society of Behavioral Medicine's (SBM) public policy and advocacy agenda and proposed future directions. SBM's Health Policy Council is responsible for ensuring coordination of the policy-related activities of the Health Policy Committee (HPC), the Civic and Public Engagement Committee (CPEC), and the Scientific and Professional Liaison Council (SPLC). These committees and councils have written letters to Congress, signed onto advocacy letters with hundreds of organizations, and developed and disseminated 15 health policy briefs, the majority of which have been presented to legislative staffers on Capitol Hill. With the assistance of the SPLC, SBM has collaborated on policy efforts with like-minded organizations to increase the impact of the Society's policy work. Moving forward, SBM plans to continue to increase efforts to disseminate policy work more broadly and develop long-term relationships with Congressional staffers. SBM leadership realizes that to remain relevant, demonstrate impact, and advance the role of behavioral medicine, we must advance a policy agenda that reflects our mission of better health through behavior change.