ABSTRACT

Disparities in childhood obesity highlight the need for research to identify its early predictors in high-risk populations, such as low-income, Latino families. In the current study, the first of its kind in a low-income Latino sample (N = 55; M _{child age} = 12.74 months, SD = 3.96), we investigated whether mothers’ self-reported attachment style predicted their infants’ weight-for-length (WFL; an early indicator of childhood obesity). We also explored whether observed maternal sensitivity, coded from a video-recorded semi-structured play assessment, mediated this association. We found a significant direct effect of maternal attachment style on infants’ WFL z-scores (c’ = −0.68, SE = 0.22, p = .004). Infants of mothers who classified themselves as secure had lower WFL z-scores than infants of insecure mothers (avoidant or anxious). Maternal sensitivity did not mediate this association, but was positively associated with infant WFL z-scores. We discuss implications of these findings for future research.

摘要

儿童肥胖的差异突出表明需要进行研究，以确定其在高风险人群（如低收入拉丁裔家庭）中的早期预测因素。在目前的研究中，这是低收入拉丁裔样本（N = 55；M _儿童年龄 = 12.74 个月，SD  = 3.96）中的第一项研究，我们调查了母亲自我报告的依恋风格是否预测了婴儿的体重——长度（WFL；儿童肥胖的早期指标）。我们还探讨了观察到的母体敏感性（从视频录制的半结构化游戏评估中编码）是否介导了这种关联。我们发现母亲依恋方式对婴儿的 WFL z分数有显着的直接影响( c ' = -0.68, SE = 0.22，p = .004）。将自己归类为安全的母亲的婴儿比不安全的母亲（回避或焦虑）的婴儿具有更低的 WFL z分数。母体敏感性并未介导这种关联，但与婴儿 WFL z 分数呈正相关。我们讨论了这些发现对未来研究的影响。