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

描述（由申请人提供）：儿童肥胖症一直在以惊人的速度增长。对于2-5岁的儿童，超重儿童的流行率在过去三十年中几乎增加了两倍。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。的目的 目前的建议是研究这些因素中的一些因素及其在儿童肥胖症中的作用。这项研究是对4、6、12和18个月大的婴儿样本进行随访，评估他们的气质反应和父母使用食物来抚慰。在本申请中，我们提出研究一个核心的发展结构，自我调节，这表明在学龄前的快速增长。当幼儿发展出控制自己行为的能力时，父母开始使孩子们适应社会，遵守行为规则和标准。在某些情况下，父母可能会转向工具喂养，或使用食物来控制或奖励行为。这种喂养方式的健康结果预计将根据儿童的气质风格和/或自我调节能力而有所不同。更具体地说，工具性喂养预计会与以敏感的奖励系统为特征的以遗传为基础的性情特征相互作用，以增加儿童肥胖的风险。这一假设是由所提出的研究的中心原则指导的;气质与健康和调整间接地通过唤起养育反应或通过与养育行为的相互作用，这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，儿童气质反应，自我调节和养育将在整个学龄前几年的生活中使用多种方法，包括实验室访问，家长报告和客观测量进行评估。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.