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

描述(申请人提供)：儿童肥胖症一直在以惊人的速度增长。对于2-5岁的儿童来说，超重儿童的患病率在过去30年里几乎增加了两倍。肥胖是一种多因素的疾病，有不同的原因，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。的目标是 目前的建议是研究其中的一些因素及其在儿童肥胖中的作用。这项拟议的研究是对4个月、6个月、12个月和18个月大的婴儿样本的跟踪调查，当时评估了气质反应性和父母使用食物缓解情绪的情况。在目前的应用中，我们建议调查一个核心的发展结构，自我调节，它显示出在学龄前几年的快速增长。随着幼儿养成规范自己行为的能力，父母开始向孩子灌输行为规则和标准。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。根据儿童的性情和/或自我调节能力，这种喂养做法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遗传的冲动性气质特征相互作用，这种气质特征的特征是敏感的奖励系统，从而增加儿童肥胖的风险。这一假设是由拟议研究的中心原则指导的；气质与健康和适应能力有关，要么是通过唤起父母的反应，要么是通过与可能缓冲负面影响或增加不良结果风险的父母行为的相互作用。为了实现这一目标，将在整个学龄前阶段使用多种方法对儿童的气质反应、自我调节和父母养育进行评估，包括实验室访问、家长报告和客观测量。儿童BMI和体重变化是建议的结果。确定儿童生命早期存在的可改变因素将有助于更成功地预防旨在减少儿童和成人肥胖症。

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.