Early psychopathology of obesity. A study with preschoolers and their parents.

Abstract

While increased levels of depression and symptoms of ADHD have been reported in older children with obesity, not much is known on the prevalence of early psychopathology in obese children as young as four. Parents’ to 4–6 year old children (n = 28, mean age 4.9 yrs, 50% boys) with obesity (mean BMI SDS 3.0), participating in a treatment study, filled out the Child Behaviour Checklist for ages 1.5–5, measuring the child’s emotional, social and behavioural problems. The parents also filled out the Beck Depression Inventory Second Edition (BDI-II), measuring parents’ degree of depression. Children’s levels of problematic behaviour symptoms were compared to Swedish and Danish reference populations. The total score of problem behaviours in this clinical sample was 30.6 (SD 20.3), compared to 22.3 (15.4) for Sweden and 16.1 (15.0) for Denmark. Obese children had higher scores on the following subscales: externalizing, internalizing, affective problems, anxiety, attention and depression. They were more withdrawn and had more sleep problems than their normal weight peers. Mothers’ scores on BDI-II were positively correlated with the children’s scores on the total problem scale and on the externalizing problem subscale (p > 0.000). The results were adjusted for child’s age at the onset of obesity as well as parent’s ethnicity. The high prevalence of psychological problems as early in life needs to be confirmed in larger samples.