*2.3. Demographics and Lifestyle Patterns*

At the beginning of the program, parents completed standardized questionnaires assessing the demographics and lifestyle patterns of both themselves and their children [25]. Demographic variables selected for inclusion in the study were children's sex, age, migration background, and parent's educational background. Time spent in physical activity and on media consumption, which is often used to reflect sedentary behavior, were included to examine lifestyle patterns [31]. Parents' educational background was dichotomized into two categories: "high", when both parents had completed secondary school ("Abitur/Fachabitur"), and "low", when neither parent had an educational degree, a different one other than secondary school, or only one parent had completed secondary school [32]. The migration background of the child was treated as a dichotomous variable assessed by the language spoken at home (German/non-German) [33].

Regarding the child's level of physical activity, parents were asked if and for how many minutes per week their child was physically active apart from time spent at school. Media consumption was assessed by asking parents to provide the total number of minutes spent by their child per day watching TV, playing a game console, using the computer/Internet, listening to music, and/or using their mobile phone. For this study, media consumption and physical activity were summed and transformed into continuous variables measured in hours per day.
