Poster #143 - Self-regulation and Food Consumption as Mechanisms Linking Early Attachment, Parental Stress, and Adolescent Obesity Risk

• In Event: 1-005 - Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

The prevalence of childhood and adolescence obesity remains high in the U.S. (Skinner et al., 2018). The substantial number of null findings in intervention programs focusing primarily on eating and physical activity factors requires a more comprehensive understanding of early obesity risk. The enduring relationship between stress and weight gain has been considered a promising area to examine in order to better understand the development of pediatric obesity. The inclusion of both interpersonal stressors (i.e., insecure parent-child relationship) and parental stressors may be especially important because developmental research has documented associations between poor parenting quality, low self-regulation ability, and unhealthy eating behaviors as well as the impact of early attachment on subsequent obesity risk (Anderson & Whitaker, 2011; Anderson et al., 2012). However, mechanistic models of and mechanisms accounting for these associations remain poorly understood. In response, this study aimed to examine whether attachment and parental stress in early childhood predict adolescent obesity risk, and whether child self-regulation and food consumption in middle childhood mediate these associations. Employing structural equation modeling (SEM), two theory-driven models (one with healthy food consumption and one with unhealthy food consumption) were examined using a large sample (N = 1,237; 599 boys and 638 girls, ranging in age from 6 months to 15 years) drawn from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (1998). Attachment security was measured at 15, 24, 36 months using the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) and Attachment Q-sort (AQS). Parental stress included a composite of maternal health, depression, and total life stress measured across 36 months. Self-regulation ability was assessed at age 4.5 and 7 using a snack delay task, parent-child interaction with challenging toys, and the Computer Performance Task (CPT). Healthy and unhealthy food consumption was assessed at age 11-12 from a self-report questionnaire. Height and weight were measured in early/middle childhood and adolescence and used to compute BMI z-scores, and skinfold thickness was an additional anthropometric indicator of adolescent obesity risk. Income-to-needs ratio, maternal education, child’s negative temperament, and negative parenting practices assessed in early childhood were used as covariates. Results revealed that both models provided a good fit to the data (healthy model: χ2 [104] = 122.610, CFI = .994, RMSEA = .012; unhealthy model: χ2 [117] = 173.165, CFI = .982, RMSEA = .020). No direct associations between early attachment or parental stress and adolescent obesity risk were found in either model. However, child self-regulation mediated the association between early attachment and both unhealthy food consumption and adolescent obesity risk. Moreover, early BMI z-score was indirectly related to BMI z-score and obesity risk in adolescence via BMI in middle childhood. 10,000 bootstrap samples confirmed the significance of the mediated paths. This is the first study to document, using longitudinal data, how the nature of parent-child relationships impacts developing regulatory processes in children which, in turn, have implications for obesity-related outcomes. The discussion focuses on theory-driven explanations for these associations and implications for pediatric obesity prevention and intervention.

Authors

• Joo Hyun Kim, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Presenting Author

• Kelly K. Bost, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Non-Presenting Author