Troubled Homes may fuel Obesity in Girls

Little girls from troubled homes are more likely to be obese at age five than girls from happier homes, new research shows.

However, researchers did not find that same association between boys’ weight and difficult family situations.

In the study, researchers looked at data on more than 1,600 pre-schoolers from the Fragile Families and child well-being study, which tracks the health and well-being of children born to mostly low income, single mother families.

 

About half were black, 27% were Hispanic, and 22% were white.

When their children were aged one and three years, mothers were asked about six stressors: domestic violence, depression, drug abuse, housing insecurity, food insecurity (i.e. there is no enough nutritious food to eat) and whether the child’s father was in prison. Children’s height and weight were measured at age five.

 

At five-years-old, 17% of the children were obese, defined as having a body-mass index in the 95^th percentile or above, or being heavier than 95% of their peers for their height.

Girls whose mothers reported experiencing two or more stressors than their daughter was age one was twice as likely to be obese at age five.

If the mother reported experiencing two or more stressors when the daughter was age three, the girl was also about twice as likely to be obese.

 

Researchers found a trend towards a similar high risk of obesity if the mothers reported experiencing stressors when their daughter was aged one and three, however the results is not statistically important.

Researchers believe that doesn’t mean there isn’t a link just that this sample wasn’t big enough to show for it.

The results suggest that paediatrician and others trying to stem the childhood obesity epidemic need to consider the family dynamics and home environment, rather than just the girl’s weight.

 

 “For families who are experiencing all these stresses, obesity is one more thing and may not be as high a priority as other things,” said a researcher.

“Particularly for girls, when you’re seeing these patients coming in as obese children at age five, there is probably more going than what they’re eating and what their physical activity is. 

 

There are other things going on in the family environment that need to be addressed to improve the health of the child.”

The study is published in the May issue of paediatrics.

A professor in Oregon Health and Science University said that;

“The connection between stress, health behaviours and obesity is profound and many say that to deal with obesity, first we have to deal with psychosocial issues and stress,” said the professor.

A researcher said, there may be a direct relationship, in that kids who are stressed because of difficult home life may be more prone to eat highly caloric foods. Studies have suggested in adults that stress prompts people to reach for “comfort foods.”

But there may be indirect effects as well. Mothers who are stressed, or who are dealing with worries such as violence or serious economic instability, may not be as emotionally available to their kids,  and may put kids in front of the T.V or feed them with junk foods to keep them occupied as they tried to deal with their own problems, said the researcher. 

 

Economic instability may mean families can’t afford or believe they can’t afford to buy fresh produce, lean cuts of meat and other Nutritious foods.

Study has found out that stress caused by domestic violence and poverty is associated with greater risk of cardiovascular disease in adults.

An open question, however, is why there wasn’t an association with obesity and troubled homes in boys.

It is possible that girls internalise things differently.

Other studies have shown that they do act differently in been exposed to stress. Girls tends to internalise more, and to have more depressive behaviours.

Boys are generally more physically active than the girls even at a younger age, so all of their running and there jumping may help ward off obesity longer.

 

Boys and girls also develop differently, so it’s possible that girls are picking up more on maternal worries while boys are paying less attention, making them less vulnerable to it.

“In the domestic violence literature, we’ve found that girls identify more with the mom more than the boys.”

 

But none of these are proven explanations. Indeed researchers found that girls who grew up with these psychosocial risk factors were more likely to be obese than kids from more peaceful homes, but not that a difficult home life caused the obesity.