Risks for Childhood Obesity II: Parenting and Self-Regulation in Early Childhood

描述（由申请人提供）：儿童期肥胖症正在以惊人的速度增加。对于 2-5 岁儿童，超重儿童的患病率在过去三十年中几乎增加了两倍。肥胖是一种多因素病症，其原因多种多样，包括遗传、社会、文化和行为因素，所有这些因素都可能相互作用。的目标 本提案旨在研究其中一些因素及其在儿童肥胖中的作用。拟议的研究是对 4、6、12 和 18 个月大的婴儿样本的后续研究，评估了婴儿的气质反应性和父母使用食物来安抚的情况。在本申请中，我们建议研究一个核心发展结构，即自我调节，它在学龄前阶段表现出快速增长。随着幼儿发展出调节自己行为的能力，父母开始让孩子遵守行为规则和标准。在某些情况下，父母可能会求助于工具喂养，或使用食物来控制或奖励行为。根据孩子的气质风格和/或自我调节能力，这种喂养方式的健康结果预计会有所不同。更具体地说，工具喂养预计会与基于基因的手术气质特征相互作用，其特点是敏感的奖励系统，从而增加儿童肥胖的风险。该假设以拟议研究的中心原则为指导；这种气质与健康和调整间接相关，通过唤起养育反应或通过与养育行为的相互作用来间接联系，这些行为可能会缓冲负面影响或增加不良结果的风险。为了实现这一目标，将使用多种方法（包括实验室访问、家长报告和客观测量）对儿童的整个学龄前阶段的气质反应、自我调节和养育方式进行评估。儿童体重指数和体重变化是建议的结果。识别儿童生命早期存在的可改变因素将有助于更成功地预防儿童和成人肥胖。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Obesity in childhood has been increasing at an alarming rate. For children ages 2-5 years, the prevalence of overweight children has almost tripled over the last three decades. Obesity is a multifactorial condition with varying causes including genetic, social, cultural, and behavioral factors, all of which may interact. The aims of the present proposal are to examine a number of these factors and their role in childhood obesity. The proposed study is a follow-up of an infant sample seen at 4, 6, 12 and 18 months of age when temperamental reactivity and parent use of food to soothe was assessed. In the present application we propose to investigate a core developmental construct, self- regulation, which demonstrates rapid growth during the preschool years. As young children develop the ability to regulate their behavior, parents begin to socialize children to rules and standards of behaving. In some instances, parents may turn to instrumental feeding, or the use of food to control or reward behavior. The health outcomes of this feeding practice is expected to be different based on the child's temperamental style and/or their self-regulatory ability. More specifically, instrumental feeding is expected to interact with the genetically-based temperament trait of surgency, which is characterized by a sensitive reward system, to increase the risk of childhood obesity. This hypothesis is guided by the central principle of the proposed study; that temperament is linked to health and adjustment either indirectly by evoking parenting responses or through interactions with parenting behaviors that may either buffer the negative effects or increase the risk for poor outcome. Toward this goal child temperamental reactivity, self-regulation and parenting will be assessed throughout the preschool years of life using multiple methods including laboratory visits, parent reports, and objective measurements. Childhood BMI and weight change are the proposed outcomes. Identifying modifiable factors present early in a child's life will contribute to more successful preventions aimed at reducing childhood and adult obesity.