TUESDAY, Dec. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Children who have poor-quality early maternal-child relationships are 2.45 times more likely to experience adolescent obesity, according to a study published online Dec. 26 in Pediatrics.
Sarah E. Anderson, Ph.D., of The Ohio State University College of Public Health in Columbus, and colleagues used data from the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development to investigate whether obesity in adolescence may be related to the quality of early maternal-child relationships. Obesity was defined as a body mass index ≥95th percentile of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth reference. Mother-child interactions were observed at 15, 24, and 36 months of age to assess child attachment security and maternal sensitivity. The overall quality of the maternal-child relationship was scored from 0 to 6, with poor maternal-child relationship quality defined as those with a score ≥3. The data were adjusted for gender and birth weight.
In this study of 977 mother-child pairs, the researchers found that 24.7 percent of children were deemed to have a poor-quality maternal-child relationship. The prevalence of adolescent obesity was highest (26.1 percent) in those with a poor-quality maternal-child relationship (score of ≥3) compared with those with better relationships (15.5 percent for score of 2, 12.1 percent for score of 1, and 13.0 percent for score of 0).
"Decades of research indicate that having a high-quality maternal-child relationship contributes to the cognitive, social, and emotional outcomes that most parents want for their children. The quality of this relationship could prevent obesity through its influence on the child's capacity for emotion-regulation and response to stress. If future research confirms these mechanisms, obesity prevention interventions could incorporate more emphasis on the quality of maternal-child relationships," the authors write.
Abstract
Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
