Abstract
Background: Maternal Depression (MD) has been implicated in the etiology of obesity. The present study investigated MD and both child fruit/vegetable consumption (FVC) and household food insecurity (FI) in an early childhood population. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Arkansas, United States, in 26 Head Start centers. Teachers obtained the Family Map (FM), an interview assessment tool used by Head Start staff to identify potential risk factors that affect child learning and development. The FM contains a two-item screener of parent depression—the Patient Health Questionaire-2, two questions about family FI, and two questions about FVC. The FM was completed in 693 households. Chi square analyses and logistic regressions utilizing adjusted and unadjusted odds ratios were utilized to compare differences in risk for children of mothers with no symptoms compared to mothers with low- or high-level depressive symptoms. Results: Children whose mothers had high MD were 2.90 (CI: 1.21–7.00) and 7.81 (CI: 3.71–16.45) times more likely to be at risk for low FVC and FI, respectively, compared to children of mothers with no MD. Similar findings but at lower magnitude were found for mothers with low symptoms of MD in comparison with mothers with no MD—both for Low FVC (1.57 times more likely; CI: 1.01–2.45) and FI (2.14 times more likely; CI: 1.28–3.58). The results presented are Odds Ratios from the multivariable adjusted models. Conclusions: Implications for the etiology of obesity, prevention/intervention efforts, and future research are offered, including recommended addition of maternal depression and household FI screening in early childhood programs.
Highlights
Prior research has documented associations between maternal depression and underweight status and poor growth trajectories in infants and toddlers [1,2,3]
A recent four-wave longitudinal study tracked children from early childhood through preadolescence and found maternal depression when the child is in kindergarten predicted significant increases in body mass index (BMI) in fifth grade boys and girls [5]
While prior research has found a relationship between maternal depression and household food insecurity (FI) [4,25,26], findings from this study suggest that maternal depression is associated with the quality of children’s diets
Summary
Prior research has documented associations between maternal depression and underweight status and poor growth trajectories in infants and toddlers [1,2,3]. Maternal depression has been linked with childhood obesity [4,5]. A recent four-wave longitudinal study tracked children from early childhood through preadolescence and found maternal depression when the child is in kindergarten predicted significant increases in body mass index (BMI) in fifth grade boys and girls [5]. Another recent study found that children of depressed mothers were about twice as likely to become overweight as children of non-depressed. The present study investigated MD and both child fruit/vegetable consumption (FVC) and household food insecurity (FI) in an early childhood population. The results presented are Odds Ratios from the multivariable adjusted models
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More From: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
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