Toddler Self-regulation Skills Predict Risk for Pediatric Obesity

Overview

Journal Int J Obes (Lond)

Specialty Endocrinology

Date 2010 Jan 13

PMID 20065961

Citations 96

Authors

P A Graziano

S D Calkins

S P Keane

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the role of early self-regulation skills, including emotion regulation, sustained attention and inhibitory control/reward sensitivity, in predicting pediatric obesity in early childhood.

Method: Participants for this study included 57 children (25 girls) obtained from three different cohorts participating in a larger ongoing longitudinal study. At 2 years of age, participants participated in several laboratory tasks designed to assess their self-regulation skills. Height and weight measures were collected when children were 2 and 5.5 years of age.

Results: Self-regulation skills in toddlerhood were predictive of both normal variations in body mass index (BMI) development and pediatric obesity. Specifically, emotion regulation was the primary self-regulation skill involved in predicting normative changes in BMI as no effects were found for sustained attention or inhibitory control/reward sensitivity. However, both emotion regulation and inhibitory control/reward sensitivity predicted more extreme weight problems (that is, pediatric obesity), even after controlling for 2-year BMI. Thus, toddlers with poor emotion regulation skills and lower inhibitory control skills/higher reward sensitivity were more likely to be classified as overweight/at risk at 5.5 years of age.

Conclusion: Early self-regulation difficulties across domains (that is, behavioral and emotional) represent significant individual risk factors for the development of pediatric obesity. Mechanisms by which early self-regulation skills may contribute to the development of pediatric obesity are discussed.

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