The Association Between Maternal Depressive Symptomology and Child Dinner Dietary Quality: Differences by Race/Ethnicity

• In Event: 3-231 - The Role of Emotion in Early Childhood Eating Behaviors

Integrative Statement

Introduction: Diets high in nutritional quality are important for the proper growth and development of children. Maternal depressive symptomology has been linked to a variety of poor child health outcomes, and depressive symptomology has been shown to be highly prevalent among low-income, racial/ethnic minority mothers. Depressive symptomology has also been noted to be culturally divergent, with both African Americans and Hispanics tending to have greater somatic symptomology than Caucasians. However, few studies have directly compared depressive symptomology between Hispanic and African American populations. While mothers are likely to have the greatest influence on their child’s dietary intake at dinner time, few studies have examined the relationship between maternal depressive symptomology and children’s dinner dietary quality. The aim of this study was to examine how maternal depressive symptoms may influence the dietary quality of preschoolers’ dinner meal in low-income families and whether this association differs among Hispanic and African American families.

Hypotheses: We hypothesized that greater maternal depressive symptoms would predict poorer dietary quality among both Hispanics and African Americans.

Study population: Hispanic and African American parents were recruited at their child’s Head Start preschool to participate in a study on the emotional feeding climate of the dinner meal in Houston, Texas.

Methods: Researchers completed 3 home observations of 138 families’ dinner meals. The amount of food served and consumed by children was measured using a standardized digital photography method. Trained dietitians estimated food consumed and entered it into the Nutrient Data System for Research 2009 to analyze nutrient content. The dietary quality of each meal was evaluated using the Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI). The mean HEI from the 3 meals was used in analysis. Maternal depression was assessed by the Centers for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). The 4 CES-D subscales (somatic complaints, depressive affect, positive affect, and interpersonal problems) were included as independent variables instead of the overall score because subscales have been found to be stronger markers of depressive symptomology among this population. Multivariate logistic regression models were stratified by race/ethnicity to estimate the association between maternal depression subscales and child’s dietary quality (HEI score). Models controlled for child gender and the number of children in the household.

Results: On average, children were 4.42 ± 0.73 and mothers were 32.36 ± 7.85 years old. Fifty percent of children were female, and 59.4% of families self-identified as Hispanic. In covariate-adjusted models, a greater maternal somatic complaints subscale score was significantly associated with a lower child HEI score among Hispanics (β = -0.99, SE = 0.37, p<0.05). None of the 4 maternal depression subscales was associated with child dietary quality among African American families. This study indicates that among a low-income population, the relationship between maternal depression symptomology and child dietary quality at dinner differs by race/ethnicity. Racial/ethnic differences should be considered in the development of interventions to improve maternal depression symptomology and child dietary consumption.

Authors

• Katherine R. Arlinghaus, University of Houston
  Presenting Author

• Daphne C. Hernandez, University of Houston
  Non-Presenting Author

• Thomas G Power, Washington State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sheryl O Hughes, Baylor College of Medicine
  Non-Presenting Author