Quality of Parent-kid Relationship Decides the Risk of Obesity in Children

Researchers at the University of Illinois claim that the quality of relationship parents have with their kids decides the child's risk of becoming obese.

The study links parent's insecure attachment to a child with his or her consumption of unhealthy diet that in turn leads to excess body weight. Through this study, the researchers emphasize on the fact that when kids fail to regulate their emotions, they in turn develop unhealthy eating patterns that soars the risk of obesity.

"We wanted to discover the steps that connect attachment and obesity. Scientists know that a person's attachment style is consistently related to the way he responds to negative emotions, and we thought that response might be related to three practices that we know are related to obesity: emotion-related feeding styles, including feeding to comfort or soothe; mealtime routine; and television viewing," said Kelly Bost, a U of I professor of human development.

The researchers reveal that when a caregiver is available and the kids get a response to their emotions, they tend to develop a secure attachment. The child uses this as a strong base to explore the environment. In the absence of a secure base, the kid develops an insecure attachment that often leads to anxiety and uncertainty in close relationships.

"As adults, they are especially at risk for ineffective parenting surrounding some of the factors that are implicated in pediatric obesity," Bost said.

The study included nearly 497 primary caregivers who managed kids of ages two and half to three and half years. They were asked to complete a questionnaire that helped in determining the adult attachment. They answered 32 questions on the nature of their relationship. Apart from this, they also rated themselves on a scale that was used to measure depression and anxiety.

Later, the parents were also made to complete a questionnaire on how they handled their kid's negative emotions. The parents revealed whether they engaged in the emotion and the frequency and communication during family mealtimes. They also reported the hours of television viewing.

"The study found that insecure parents were significantly more likely to respond to their children's distress by becoming distressed themselves or dismissing their child's emotion. For example, if a child went to a birthday party and was upset because of a friend's comment there, a dismissive parent might tell the child not to be sad, to forget about it. Or the parent might even say: Stop crying and acting like a baby or you're never going over again," she said.

When the parent punished and dismissed their child's emotions, its effect was either related to comfort feeding or fewer mealtimes and increased television viewing. This pattern gave rise to unhealthy eating among the kids.

"One explanation might be that insecure moms are more easily overwhelmed with stress, find it more difficult to organize family mealtimes, and allow their children to watch more television as a coping strategy," she suggested.

The study suggests that when clinicians are dealing with obesity issue in kids, they might consider offering practical strategies for parents to help their kids deal with negative emotions.

A recent study by researchers at the Hubert Department of Global Health at Rollins School of Public Health claimed that over-weight kindergarteners suffer a higher risk of obesity in later life compared to normal weight children. 

The study was documented in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics.