Maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms, self-esteem, body dissatisfaction and preschooler obesity: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

The 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.

Keywords:

• obesity
• preschooler
• maternal depression
• maternal body dissatisfaction
• early childhood

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Pree Benton is a Doctor of Psychology (Health) candidate at Deakin University, supervised by Prof. Skouteris and Dr Hayden. This paper contributes to a thesis submission, in partial fulfilment of the requirements of this degree.

Helen Skouteris is a Professor in Developmental Psychology at Deakin University. Her areas of research expertise include the psychosocial and behavioural influences of maternal and childhood obesity.

Melissa Hayden is a lecturer in Health Psychology at Deakin University. Her areas of research expertise include the psychosocial and behavioural aspects of obesity.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council [Discovery Grant DP1092804].