Investigating within-day and longitudinal effects of maternal stress on children's physical activity, dietary intake,

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Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants
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Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants

Published on: June 13, 2021

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Genevieve F Dunton1, Yue Liao1, Eldin Dzubur1

  • 1Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California, 2001 N. Soto Street, 3rd floor, Rm 302E, MC 9239, Los Angeles, CA 90033-9045, USA.

Contemporary Clinical Trials
|May 20, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Maternal stress impacts children's health, affecting diet and activity. The MATCH study uses real-time data to understand these effects on childhood obesity risk and inform interventions.

Area of Science:

  • Child Health and Nutrition
  • Psychosocial Factors in Health
  • Obesity Research

Background:

  • Parental stress is linked to parenting practices affecting children's diet, activity, and obesity.
  • Previous studies have methodological limitations, such as cross-sectional designs and retrospective data.
  • Momentary, within-day processes linking maternal stress to child health are understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate within-day associations between maternal stress and children's dietary intake and physical activity.
  • To examine how these associations contribute to children's obesity risk over time.
  • To describe the protocol for the longitudinal Mothers And Their Children's Health (MATCH) study.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study with 200 mother-child dyads over 3 years (6 assessment waves).
  • Utilizes Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) for real-time data on stressors, parenting, diet, and activity.
  • Includes salivary cortisol, accelerometry, dietary recalls, anthropometrics, and questionnaires.

Main Results:

  • The study is designed to test within-day and longitudinal effects using multilevel modeling and latent growth curve models.
  • Data analysis will focus on the impact of maternal stress on children's eating habits, physical activity levels, and body composition.
  • Results will identify pathways through which maternal stress influences child obesity.

Conclusions:

  • Findings will inform the development of interventions to mitigate the impact of maternal stress on parenting practices.
  • Interventions aim to reduce the negative effects of stress on children's weight-related behaviors.
  • The study will provide novel insights into the dynamic interplay between maternal stress and child obesity risk.

Keywords:
ChildrenDietary intakeObesityPhysical activityPsychosocial stress

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