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Toddler self-regulation skills predict risk for pediatric obesity

International Journal of Obesity volume 34, pages 633–641 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

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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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health awards (MH 55625 and MH 55584) to the second author and an NIMH award (MH 58144) to the second and third authors. The authors like to thank Kathryn Degnan, Louise Berdan, David Topor, Rachael Reavis and Caitlin Stone for their help in subject recruitment, data collection and coding. The authors also thank the families who generously gave their time to participate in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    P A Graziano

  2. Department of Human Development & Family Studies and Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA

    S D Calkins

  3. Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA

    S P Keane

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  1. P A Graziano
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  2. S D Calkins
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Correspondence to P A Graziano.

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Graziano, P., Calkins, S. & Keane, S. Toddler self-regulation skills predict risk for pediatric obesity. Int J Obes 34, 633–641 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2009.288

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