Childhood obesity is a serious health problem that affects millions of American children. A recent study called Early Child Care and Youth development, demonstrated a strong link between obesity rates and a child’s relationship with their mother. During the study more than one-quarter of the toddlers observed having the lowest-quality emotional relationship with their mothers were obese by the time they reached their teenage years.
Researchers studied the maternal relationships of 977 participants whose ages were 15, 24 and 36 months. The number of times a child was insecurely attached to their mother or experienced a low maternal sensitivity at any of the three ages was recorded and given a maternal-child relationship quality score. Those participants who achieved a score of at least 3 had what researchers considered a poor-quality maternal-child relationship.
During the study a Body Mass Index (BMI) rating of at least the 95th percentile by the age of 15 years old was considered obese.
About 25% of those participants rated had a poor-quality relationship while 22% were neither insecurely attached to their mother or experienced low maternal sensitivity at any of the ages studied.
The results of the study demonstrated how a child’s relationship with their mother can affect obesity. The rates of adolescent obesity with participants who had a score of 3 was 26.1% and those with a score of 2 was 15.5% and those with a score of 0 was just 13%. After adjusting for gender and birth weight the study showed the chances of adolescent obesity were 2.45 times greater in participants who had the poorest quality maternal-child relationships than those with the highest quality relationships. Low maternal sensitivity was associated more strongly with obesity than insecure attachment.
Researchers recommended that interventions designed to improve the quality of maternal-child interactions should take into account examining weight and stress responses when considering a treatment plan.
Source
www.pediatrics.aappublications.org