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Maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms, self-esteem, body dissatisfaction and preschooler obesity: a cross-sectional study
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posted on 2016-01-01, 00:00 authored by Pree Benton, Helen Skouteris, Melissa HaydenMelissa HaydenThe primary aim of the present study was to cross-sectionally examine the associations between maternal psychosocial variables, child feeding practices, and preschooler body mass index z-score (BMI-z) in children (aged 2–4 years). A secondary aim was to examine differences in child weight outcomes between mothers scoring above and below specified cut-offs on the psychosocial measures. Two hundred and ninety mother–child dyads were recruited from Melbourne, Australia, and completed questionnaires examining demographic information, mothers’ depressive and anxiety symptoms, self-esteem and body dissatisfaction, restrictive and pressure child feeding practices, and preschoolers’ BMI-z scores. Independent t-tests and hierarchical multiple regression were employed to analyse the data. In the final regression model, none of the maternal psychosocial measures or feeding practices predicted child BMI-z scores; maternal body mass index and employment status were the only predictors of preschooler BMI-z. However, independent t-tests revealed that children of mothers with elevated body dissatisfaction scores had significantly higher BMI-z scores than children of mothers without elevated scores. The results suggest that psychosocial variables are not related, cross-sectionally, to preschooler weight outcomes; however, further research is needed to replicate the group differences noted between mothers with and without body dissatisfaction, and to track these relationships longitudinally.
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Journal
Early child development and careVolume
186Issue
5Pagination
799 - 814Publisher
Taylor and FrancisLocation
Abingdon, Eng.Publisher DOI
ISSN
0300-4430eISSN
1476-8275Language
engPublication classification
C Journal article; C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2015, Taylor and FrancisUsage metrics
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