Maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness in early childhood as predictors of children's weight at school age. Issue 1 (23rd September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Schlensog‐Schuster, Franziska; Klein, Annette M.; Biringen, Zeynep; von Klitzing, Kai; Bergmann, Sarah
• Is Part Of: Pediatric obesity. Volume 17:Issue 1(2022)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2021-09-23
• Subjects: childhood obesity -- childhood overweight -- emotional availability -- intrusiveness -- maternal behaviour -- sensitivity; Obesity in children -- Periodicals; Obesity in adolescence -- Periodicals; Obesity -- Periodicals; Overweight children -- Periodicals; 618.92398
• DOI: 10.1111/ijpo.12842
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1747-7174

Abstract

Summary: Background: While previous research indicates that low maternal sensitivity in mother‐child interactions puts children at risk of overweight and obesity, maternal intrusiveness has rarely been investigated in association with children's weight. We investigated whether maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness in early childhood predict children's increased body mass index standard deviation scores (BMI‐SDS) at school age. BMI‐SDS are standardized for age and gender with respect to a reference standard. Methods: At baseline ( t 1), we assessed maternal sensitivity and (non‐)intrusiveness of 116 mothers with their children (48.3% female) aged 5–47 months ( M = 24.00, SD = 11.36) using the emotional availability scales. We obtained anthropometric data for mothers at t 1 by measuring height and weight in the laboratory and for children at birth assessed by medical staff. Six years later ( t 2) we obtained anthropometric data for children in the laboratory or based on parental report. Linear regression analyses were run with child BMI‐SDS at t 2 as outcome and sensitivity and (non‐)intrusiveness as predictors, adjusting for confounders and exploring child age and gender as moderators. Results: Maternal sensitivity only negatively predicted children's BMI‐SDS in girls, while maternal intrusiveness predicted higher child BMI‐SDS at school age regardless of child gender. The effect of maternal non‐intrusiveness remained significant when controlling for confounders. Conclusion: Maternal intrusiveness in early childhood seems to represent a risk factor for increased BMI‐SDS in children, while lower maternal sensitivity tends to be a risk factor for increased BMI‐SDS in girls. This may have implications for prevention or intervention programmes.