Abstract
Childhood obesity is a serious health problem and prevalence increases
dramatically around the world, including Sweden. The aim of the current
thesis was to examine parents’ and children’s stress in relation to
childhood obesity. Parenting stress, social support, parental worries, and
serious life events, as well as children’s temperament, self‐esteem, body
dissatisfaction, saliva cortisol, weight and height were measured to estimate
stress and the relation between stress and childhood obesity.
Data was collected as part of the cohort project All Babies in Southeast
Sweden (ABIS) which main aim is to understand the causes of Type
1 Diabetes. All 21700 children born between October 1997 and October
1999 in Southeast Sweden and their parents were invited to participate
and questionnaires were completed for 16070 children at birth. Questionnaires
were then collected at follow‐ups at 1 year (N=11078), at 2‐3 years
(N=8803), at 5‐6 years (N=7443), and at 8 years (N=3959).
The main findings were a relation between parents’ psychological
stress and lower self‐esteem of children, a relation between parenting
stress and higher cortisol levels of children, and a relation between children’s
body dissatisfaction and lower self‐esteem. Another main finding
was a relation between cumulative psychological stress and an increased
prevalence of childhood obesity. The current thesis summarized these
results, found good validity of the instruments, and the analyses did not
indicate any systematic attrition due to stress.
It is concluded that the psychological variables reported by parents
can be used as proxies for children’s experience of stress in epidemiological
studies such as ABIS, and that psychological stress seems to be a
contributing factor in childhood obesity. This relation needs to be studied
further in order to better understand and intervene in the current
epidemic of childhood obesity. These findings may also help to better
examine if psychological stress and childhood obesity are contributing
factors in the etiology of Type 1 Diabetes.
AbstractChildhood obesity is a serious health problem and prevalence increasesdramatically around the world, including Sweden. The aim of the currentthesis was to examine parents’ and children’s stress in relation tochildhood obesity. Parenting stress, social support, parental worries, andserious life events, as well as children’s temperament, self‐esteem, bodydissatisfaction, saliva cortisol, weight and height were measured to estimatestress and the relation between stress and childhood obesity.Data was collected as part of the cohort project All Babies in SoutheastSweden (ABIS) which main aim is to understand the causes of Type1 Diabetes. All 21700 children born between October 1997 and October1999 in Southeast Sweden and their parents were invited to participateand questionnaires were completed for 16070 children at birth. Questionnaireswere then collected at follow‐ups at 1 year (N=11078), at 2‐3 years(N=8803), at 5‐6 years (N=7443), and at 8 years (N=3959).The main findings were a relation between parents’ psychologicalstress and lower self‐esteem of children, a relation between parentingstress and higher cortisol levels of children, and a relation between children’sbody dissatisfaction and lower self‐esteem. Another main findingwas a relation between cumulative psychological stress and an increasedprevalence of childhood obesity. The current thesis summarized theseresults, found good validity of the instruments, and the analyses did notindicate any systematic attrition due to stress.It is concluded that the psychological variables reported by parentscan be used as proxies for children’s experience of stress in epidemiologicalstudies such as ABIS, and that psychological stress seems to be acontributing factor in childhood obesity. This relation needs to be studiedfurther in order to better understand and intervene in the currentepidemic of childhood obesity. These findings may also help to betterexamine if psychological stress and childhood obesity are contributingfactors in the etiology of Type 1 Diabetes.
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