Psychosocial pathways to childhood obesity: A pilot study involving a high risk preschool sample

This pilot study adopts a systems theory perspective to explore associations between parent and child factors and children's body mass index (BMI). Forty mothers and their preschool-aged children (3-6 years) who were eligible for Head Start were recruited. Measures included demographic risk, maternal depression, negative parenting, children's impulsivity, children's approach to eating, and BMI. Structural Equation Modeling supported a mediating model such that mothers who reported greater demographic risk and more depressive symptoms showed higher rates of negative parenting. In turn, more negative parenting predicted higher child impulsivity ratings, which were related to higher food approach scores. Finally, children who scored higher in food approach had higher BMIs. Tests of sub-models excluding any of the mediating variables indicated a significantly worse fit to the data in each case. Results have implications for family-wide intervention strategies to help lower the risk for early-onset obesity in high-risk children.