Abstract
The purpose of our research was to explore the role of both parents’ use of behavioural regulation with food and children’s emotional self-regulation in young children with and without overweight/obesity. For this purpose, 123 participants (n = 62 boys and n = 61 girls) were recruited and classified into two groups by their Body Mass Index (BMI, non-overweight vs. overweight/obese) and into two age groups (four years and seven years). The children’s parents/primary caregivers completed two scales of the Childhood Obesogenic Behaviours’ Questionnaire (COBQ). The participants were measured and weighed to calculate their BMI to identify overweight, obesity, and non-overweight. The results showed that the means for children who were obese/overweight were significantly higher than those of children who were non-overweight for both the parents’ behavioural regulation scale (non-overweight: M = 1.80, SD = 0.69; overweight/obesity: M = 2.94, SD = 0.85) and the child’s emotional overeating scale (non-overweight: M = 1.47, SD = 0.56; overweight/obesity: M = 2.65, SD = 0.87). No statistically significant differences were found related to age (4 and 7 years), indicating that the potential impact of obesogenic behaviours starts early in development. Similarly, no differences by gender were found. Due to the implications of obesity for physical and mental health, and the high probability of maintaining this overweight status in the long term, family-based interventions to prevent obesity are highly advisable from birth.
Highlights
Introduction published maps and institutional affilChildhood obesity is a serious problem and is increasing in alarming proportions among infants, children, and adolescents [1]
Residuals in the analysis of variance (ANOVA) model were not deviated from normality
The objective of this study was to explore the role of self-regulation and emotional overeating in the early development of obesity
Summary
Childhood obesity is a serious problem and is increasing in alarming proportions among infants, children, and adolescents [1]. The implications of obesity in physical health (cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc.) are well known, but recently, research has focused on its impact on mental health (self-esteem, depression, etc.). Related to the increase in child obesity mentioned above, its implications for development have been considered as it seems to affect several domains of personal and social adjustment [3], and has been related to some mental health conditions (anxiety, low self-esteem, conduct problems, etc.) [4,5,6]. Most studies have been carried out in children over 8 years of age, so we still have little information on what influences obesogenic behaviours in earlier ages. A question to bear in mind is that the iations
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