SYNOPSIS

Objective: Early childhood weight predicts later weight, so there is need for longitudinal research to identify key factors in the development of childhood obesity, especially among vulnerable populations. Design: This study examines the links between parenting styles and child obesity across three waves (Mages = 6.90, 7.34, and 8.28 years) and the moderating factor of mother ethnicity in a sample of 356 children and their mothers (78.5% European American; 14.8% American Indian). Results: Growth curve SEM showed that high-permissive parenting predicted higher initial weight than the average permissive reference group and low permissive parenting group. Children of high authoritarian mothers began at a non-significantly different weight relative to the average authoritarian and low authoritarian reference groups, but later increased their weight, primarily from wave 1 to 2. An interaction between mother ethnicity and authoritative parenting was found for the autonomy granting subscale. Children of American Indian mothers with low levels of autonomy granting had the highest initial levels of weight compared to children of parents in the average and high autonomy granting reference groups and by wave 3 had an average increase close to the cutoff for being overweight. Conclusions: Parenting style appears to play a role in predicting child weight longitudinally, and this relation is moderated by the ethnicity of the child’s mother. This study is also the first to show measurement invariance in the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire among American Indian mothers.

 概要

目的：儿童早期的体重可以预测以后的体重，因此需要进行纵向研究来确定儿童肥胖发展的关键因素，特别是在弱势群体中。设计：本研究以 356 名儿童及其母亲（78.5% 欧洲裔美国人；78.5% 欧洲裔美国人； 14.8% 美洲印第安人）。结果：生长曲线SEM显示，高宽容度养育比平均宽容参考组和低宽容度养育组预测的初始体重更高。高度独裁母亲的孩子一开始的体重与平均独裁和低独裁参照组相比没有显着差异，但后来体重增加，主要是从第一波到第二波。在自主性方面，发现了母亲种族和权威养育之间的相互作用授予子量表。与给予平均自主权和高度自主权参照组的父母的孩子相比，给予自主权水平较低的美洲印第安人母亲的孩子初始体重水平最高，并且到第三波时，平均体重增加接近超重的临界值。结论：养育方式似乎在纵向预测儿童体重方面发挥着作用，并且这种关系受到孩子母亲的种族的调节。这项研究也是第一个显示美洲印第安人母亲的教养方式和维度问卷测量不变性的研究。