Bidirectional associations between psychosocial well-being and body mass index in European children: longitudinal findings from the IDEFICS study

Abstract

BackgroundThe negative impact of childhood overweight on psychosocial well-being has been demonstrated in a number of studies. There is also evidence that psychosocial well-being may influence future overweight. We examined the bidirectional association between childhood overweight and psychosocial well-being in children from a large European cohort.The dual aim was to investigate the chronology of associations between overweight and psychosocial health indicators and the extent to which these associations may be explained by parental education.MethodsParticipants from the IDEFICS study were recruited from eight countries between September 2007 and June 2008 when the children were aged 2 to 9.9 years old. Children and families provided data on lifestyle, psychosocial well-being, and measured anthropometry at baseline and at follow-up 2 years later. This study includes children with weight, height, and psychosocial well-being measurements at both time points (n = 7,831). Psychosocial well-being was measured by the KINDL® and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire respectively. The first instrument measures health-related quality of life including emotional well-being, self-esteem, parent relations and social relations while the second measures well-being based on emotional symptoms, conduct problems and peer-related problems. Logistic regression was used for modeling longitudinal associations.ResultsChildren who were overweight at baseline had increased risk of poor health-related quality of life (odds ratio (OR) = 1.23; 95 % confidence interval (CI):1.03–1.48) measured 2 years later; this association was unidirectional. In contrast to health-related quality of life, poor well-being at baseline was associated with increased risk of overweight (OR = 1.39; 95 % CI:1.03–1.86) at 2 year follow-up; this association was also only observed in one direction. Adjustment for parental education did not change our findings.ConclusionOur findings indicate that the association between overweight and psychosocial well-being may be bidirectional but varies by assessment measures. Future research should further investigate which aspects of psychosocial well-being are most likely to precede overweight and which are more likely to be consequences of overweight.

Consideration of Social Disadvantages for Understanding and Preventing Obesity in Children

“…In fact, a scientific paper that investigated the associations between socioeconomic disadvantages and psychosocial problems found that having parents with a lack of a social network was the strongest determining factor to predict children's internalizing and psychosocial problems ( 46 ). The negative impact of childhood overweight on psychosocial well-being has been demonstrated in many studies, but the association between overweight and psychosocial well-being may be bidirectional because there is also evidence that psychosocial well-being may influence future overweight ( 49 ).…”

Maternal emotional states in relation to their offspring weight status and health-related quality of life: Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study

“…Similar studies from Iran indicate lower HRQol scores in obese children, compared to their over-or normal-weight counterparts [13,14] which can be observed in a gender-speci c pattern [15]. On the other hand results of a longitudinal study conducted on European children revealed bidirectional associations between childhood overweight and psychosocial well-being [16]; ndings consistent with previous data indicate that mental health problems and poor psychosocial well-being during childhood increased the risk of future obesity [17][18][19]. Hence, investigating the association between weight status and HRQoL in children and adolescents, considering the main factors that can affect their weight and HRQoL simultaneously, would provide much needed data on this very important relationship.…”

Bidirectional associations between psychosocial well-being and adherence to healthy dietary guidelines in European children: prospective findings from the IDEFICS study

“…In accordance with the SDQ manual [ 28 ] the emotional and peer problem scores were divided into: ‘inconspicuous’, ‘borderline’ and ‘abnormal’. Thereafter, a dichotomized variable was created, as previously done by Hunsberger et al [ 12 ], consisting of poor well-being (including both ‘borderline’ and ‘abnormal’ groups) versus the remaining children with no detectable (‘inconspicuous’) poor wellbeing.…”

“…However, one has to acknowledge the possible effect of children’s weight status on the association between diet and psychosocial well-being [ 6 , 11 ]. For example, recent results from the IDEFICS (Identification and Prevention of Dietary- and Lifestyle-Induced Health Effects in Children and Infants study) suggests that childhood overweight increases the risk of poor health-related quality of life while poor well-being increases the risk of developing overweight [ 12 ].…”