Abstract Overweight and obesity among children is not only harmful to physical and mental health, but also associated with an increased risk of chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes in adulthood. Health related behavioral factors are one of the most important causes of child overweight and obesity, which commonly co occur and show a synergistic negative influence on health. The synergistic effects suggest that interventions are likely to be more cost effective and to maximize impact by targeting health risk behaviors in combination with the improvement of a variety of modificable behaviors. The present review aims to describe the update of co occurrence and clustering patterns of obesity related health risk behaviors, and proposes the future direction for prevention and control of overweight and obesity in children.