Pediatric obesity may be correlated to relationships with parents

Anderson SE. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2011;165:235-242.

Toddlers who do not have good relationships with their parents, particularly their mothers, may be more prone to obesity later in life.

At the age of 24 months, children who do not show secure attachment patterns with their mother have at least a 30% higher risk for obesity by age 4.5 years, according to Sarah Anderson, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology at The Ohio State University, and colleagues.

“That secure attachment could reduce the risk for childhood obesity by preventing frequent or exaggerated stress responses from disrupting the normal functioning and development of the systems that affect energy balance and body weight. Children’s stress responses and emotion regulation are formed in early childhood in the context of parent-child interactions, and one indicator that the child has developed healthy emotion regulation and stress response is secure attachment,” the study researchers wrote.

The researchers included data from 6,650 children who were participating in the 2003 and 2005-2006 waves of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort, conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. The children were assessed at age 24 months and then evaluated again at 4.5 years.

Research staff spent about 2 hours observing and evaluating the child and mother in their home and rated how closely 45 specific behaviors applied to the child. Specifically, the researchers monitored whether the children sought and enjoyed being hugged by their mothers, and whether crying children could be comforted by contact with their mothers, among other measures. Children were given an attachment security score based on these evaluations.

The children’s BMI was taken at age 4.5 years, and children whose BMI fell into the 95th percentile based on the CDC’s growth chart were classified as being obese. The researchers found that there was “a 30% increased risk for obesity in children who were insecurely attached at age 24 months.”

Disclosure: The study was supported by a grant from the NIH.

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