Maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness in early childhood as predictors of children's weight at school age

Summary Background While previous research indicates that low maternal sensitivity in mother‐child interactions puts children at risk of overweight and obesity, maternal intrusiveness has rarely been investigated in association with children's weight. We investigated whether maternal sensitivit...

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Published in:Pediatric obesity 2022-01, Vol.17 (1), p.e12842-n/a
Main Authors: Schlensog‐Schuster, Franziska, Klein, Annette M., Biringen, Zeynep, Klitzing, Kai, Bergmann, Sarah
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Body Mass Index
Body Weight
Child, Preschool
childhood obesity
childhood overweight
Children & youth
Childrens health
emotional availability
Female
Gender
Humans
Infant, Newborn
intrusiveness
Laboratories
Male
maternal behaviour
Mothers
Obesity
Overweight
Pediatric Obesity - epidemiology
Pediatric Obesity - prevention & control
Pediatrics
Schools
sensitivity
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Summary:Summary Background While previous research indicates that low maternal sensitivity in mother‐child interactions puts children at risk of overweight and obesity, maternal intrusiveness has rarely been investigated in association with children's weight. We investigated whether maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness in early childhood predict children's increased body mass index standard deviation scores (BMI‐SDS) at school age. BMI‐SDS are standardized for age and gender with respect to a reference standard. Methods At baseline (t1), we assessed maternal sensitivity and (non‐)intrusiveness of 116 mothers with their children (48.3% female) aged 5–47 months (M = 24.00, SD = 11.36) using the emotional availability scales. We obtained anthropometric data for mothers at t1 by measuring height and weight in the laboratory and for children at birth assessed by medical staff. Six years later (t2) we obtained anthropometric data for children in the laboratory or based on parental report. Linear regression analyses were run with child BMI‐SDS at t2 as outcome and sensitivity and (non‐)intrusiveness as predictors, adjusting for confounders and exploring child age and gender as moderators. Results Maternal sensitivity only negatively predicted children's BMI‐SDS in girls, while maternal intrusiveness predicted higher child BMI‐SDS at school age regardless of child gender. The effect of maternal non‐intrusiveness remained significant when controlling for confounders. Conclusion Maternal intrusiveness in early childhood seems to represent a risk factor for increased BMI‐SDS in children, while lower maternal sensitivity tends to be a risk factor for increased BMI‐SDS in girls. This may have implications for prevention or intervention programmes.
ISSN:2047-6302
2047-6310
DOI:10.1111/ijpo.12842