New research suggests that stressed parents are twice as likely to have children with obesity.
Researchers led by Carmen Isasi from Albert Einstein College of Medicine found that prevalence of obesity in the child increased with the number of parental stress factors, from 20 percent among parents who experienced no stress to 34 percent among parents with three or more stress factors.
"Obesity and chronic stress were both prevalent among this Latino population, with more than one-quarter (28 percent) of children ages 8-16 with obesity, and nearly one-third (29 percent) of their parents reporting high levels of stress," Isasi said in a statement. "This study is among the first of its kind to show that parental stress is a risk factor for childhood obesity among Latinos, and adds to the understanding of family influences on child weight status."
For the study, researchers examined data from the Study of Latino Youth (SOL Youth), a study funded by the National, Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of NIH, to determine the relationship between parental stress and child weight status in the Latino population.
They found that parents who experienced three or more chronic stressors were twice as likely to have children with obesity than parents who experienced no stress.
"This research should encourage clinicians and healthcare practitioners to consider high stress levels as a warning sign for developing obesity not only in the adult patient, but also in the patient's entire family," researcher Margarita Teran-Garcia said in a statement. "Although the study is cross-sectional, it suggests that special attention should be paid to adult patients who report experiencing high stress levels in this population, and providers are encouraged to consider behavioral counseling as one measure for obesity prevention and treatments."
Future research is needed to examine the causes and possible preventive strategies to address the parental stress and childhood obesity associations.
The findings were presented at The Obesity Society Annual Meeting at ObesityWeek.
