Early maternal perceived stress and children’s BMI: longitudinal impact and influencing factors

Leppert, Beate; Junge, Kristin M.; Röder, Stefan; Borte, Michael; Stangl, Gabriele I.; Wright, Rosalind J.; Hilbert, Anja; Lehmann, Irina; Trump, Saskia

doi:10.1186/s12889-018-6110-5

Cited by 34 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…In the past decade, several studies have established the link between maternal well-being and childrens’ zBMI [ 28 – 31 , 33 ]. However, these studies mostly focused on (early) childhood.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal stress and depressive symptoms and adolescents’ body mass index: a prospective study

et al. 2021

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Background Growing evidence suggests that maternal mental health issues are associated with (young) children’s weight outcomes. However, most studies have been limited by cross-sectional designs and have been aimed at (younger) children. The current prospective study focuses on the link between maternal mental health (i.e., psychological stress and depressive symptoms) and adolescents’ zBMI development. Methods The participants in the present study were part of wave 1 and 2 of a longitudinal study on Dutch adolescents’ and their parents’ health behavior. Adolescents (aged 10–14) and their parents were recruited through six secondary schools in the South and the East of the Netherlands. For this study, we only included biological mothers and their adolescent children who participated in both waves, with data on the main measures in both waves, leaving a final sample of 336 biological mother-child dyads. Adolescents height and weight were measured, and both parents and adolescents filled in validated questionnaires on perceived stress and depressive symptoms and answered additional questions concerning domain-specific stress. Regression analyses were performed in R to examine longitudinal links between maternal stress and depressive symptoms at baseline (T1) and adolescents’ BMI standard deviation scores (zBMI) 6 months later (T2), corrected for baseline zBMI and covariates. Results Maternal general perceived stress (β = .20, p = .002) at T1 preceded higher adolescents’ zBMI at T2, after controlling for baseline zBMI and other covariates, whereas maternal depressive symptoms at T1 (β = −.05, p = .44) and other domain-specific stress did not (maternal financial stress, maternal stress at work, maternal stress at home). Additionally, lower educational level among adolescents (β = .16, p = .001) and adolescent depressive symptoms (β = .16, p = .001) was associated with a higher zBMI at T2. Conclusions Results suggest that maternal general stress, but not depressive symptoms, may influence adolescents’ weight development. Our findings warrant future investigation on whether and how general stress among mothers may predict weight increases of their adolescent offspring.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal stress and depressive symptoms and adolescents’ body mass index: a prospective study

et al. 2021

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“…In the past decade, several studies have established the link between maternal well-being and childrens' zBMI [17][18][19][20]22]. However, these studies mostly focused on (early) childhood.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because women experience greater levels of psychological stress than men [15,16], maternal psychological wellbeing and subsequent parenting behaviors may therefore have important implications for children's development. To date, growing evidence suggests that maternal psychological stress and depressive symptoms are associated with increased risk rates of obesity in children [17][18][19][20][21][22][23], children's decreased consumption of fruits and vegetables, higher child sedentary behavior [24][25][26] and breakfast skipping and children's high consumption of sweetened drinks, less sleep and less outdoor play [27][28][29].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal Stress, Depressive Symptoms and Body Mass Index of Adolescents: A Prospective Study

Koning

Vink²,

Visscher

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background Changes in adolescent dietary and sedentary behaviors contribute to adolescence being one of the most vulnerable periods for the development of overweight and overweight-related morbidity. Children become more autonomous during adolescence, particularly in regard to decision-making over their own health behaviors. Despite this expanding autonomy, parents still play a major role in shaping health behaviors of adolescents and can still have influence on children’s weight outcomes. There is rising evidence that maternal stress and depressive symptoms are associated with young children’s weight outcomes. Longitudinal studies that test whether maternal stress or depressive symptoms may precede the development of adolescents’ weight outcomes are rare. This study aimed to fill this gap.Methods In this longitudinal cohort study data from 336 mothers and adolescents aged 10–14 years was used. Adolescents height and weight were measured, and both parents and adolescents filled in questionnaires on perceived stress and depressive symptoms. Regression analyses were performed in R to examine longitudinal links between stress and depressive symptoms at baseline (T1) and adolescents’ zBMI 6 months later (T2).Results Maternal general perceived stress (β = .14, p = .01) at T1 preceded the development of higher adolescents’ zBMI at T2, after controlling for baseline zBMI and other covariates, whereas maternal depressive symptoms at T1 (β = .04, p = .40) and other domain specific stress did not (maternal financial stress, maternal stress at work, maternal stress at home). Additionally, lower educational level among adolescents was associated with a higher zBMI at T2 (β = .16, p = .001).Conclusions Results suggest that maternal general stress, but not depressive symptoms, may influence adolescents’ weight development. Our findings warrant future investigation on whether and how general stress among mothers, but also fathers, may predict weight increases of their adolescent offspring.

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“…Another weakness of studies in this domain includes the failure to disentangle the independent effects of perceived maternal stress and perceived child stress on BMI trajectories. Research typically includes only one or the other, 18 or uses parental reports of child stress, which may be inaccurate or confound levels of parental and child stress 19 . Taken together, these methodological challenges have led to inconclusive and equivocal findings on whether mothers' or children's perceptions of stress play a larger role in obesity progression during childhood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Longitudinal associations of maternal stress and child stress with child body mass index trajectory

et al. 2020

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Summary Background Although exposure to stress is common among children and their parents, longitudinal research on the effects of perceived stress on child obesity risk is lacking. This study examined the 3‐year longitudinal associations of children and mothers' perceived stress with children's body mass index (BMI). Methods A sample of 199 mothers and their children (8‐12 years at baseline, 56% Hispanic) completed six semi‐annual assessments across 3 years with questionnaire‐based self‐report measures of perceived stress and measured height/weight. Parallel process latent growth curve modelling specified regressions of latent intercept and slope of children's BMI on latent intercepts and slopes for mothers' and children's perceived stress. Results Greater child self‐reported perceived stress at baseline predicted greater increase in children's BMI across the six assessments whereas mother self‐reported perceived stress at baseline was unrelated to change in child BMI. Baseline child BMI was unrelated to change in children or mothers' perceived stress across the six assessment waves. Conclusion Children's own perceptions of stress may play a larger contributing role in BMI progression during middle childhood than their mother's perceived stress levels. These findings underscore the importance of focusing on children's stress‐coping strategies for promoting a healthy weight.

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Early maternal perceived stress and children’s BMI: longitudinal impact and influencing factors

Cited by 34 publications

References 70 publications

Maternal stress and depressive symptoms and adolescents’ body mass index: a prospective study

Maternal stress and depressive symptoms and adolescents’ body mass index: a prospective study

Maternal Stress, Depressive Symptoms and Body Mass Index of Adolescents: A Prospective Study

Longitudinal associations of maternal stress and child stress with child body mass index trajectory

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