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Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
Published on: February 11, 2017
Emotion regulation strategies and childhood obesity in high risk preschoolers
Thomas G Power1, Yadira A Olivera1, Rachael A Hill1
1Washington State University, Department of Human Development, PO Box 6452, Pullman, WA, 99164-4852, USA.
Insights
Specific emotion regulation strategies, like preventing movement, can help reduce childhood obesity risk in preschoolers. These strategies predict weight status beyond general eating self-regulation, offering targets for prevention programs.
Area of Science:
- Childhood obesity research
- Developmental psychology
- Behavioral science
Background:
- Childhood obesity is a significant public health concern.
- Emotion regulation and eating behaviors are linked in children.
- Preschoolers' specific emotion regulation strategies require further investigation in relation to weight status.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the relationship between preschool children's emotion regulation strategies and their weight status.
- To determine if emotion regulation strategies predict childhood weight status independently of eating self-regulation.
- To identify specific emotion regulation strategies that may mitigate obesity risk.
Main Methods:
- 185 Latino children (4-5 years old) from Head Start centers participated.
- Emotion regulation was assessed using a delay of gratification task (measuring strategies like "prevent movement").
- Eating regulation was assessed via a task and maternal reports; weight status was measured.
Main Results:
- Eating regulation measures negatively predicted child obesity.
- The "prevent movement" emotion regulation strategy also negatively predicted child obesity.
- Overall wait time in emotion regulation tasks did not predict obesity, but specific strategies did.
Conclusions:
- Specific emotion regulation strategies, such as "prevent movement," are significant predictors of lower child weight status.
- These findings suggest targeted emotion regulation interventions could help reduce preschool obesity.
- Prevention programs can focus on teaching specific emotion regulation skills to combat childhood obesity.
Abstract:
The current study examined the relationships between the specific strategies that preschool children use to regulate their emotions and childhood weight status to see if emotion regulation strategies would predict childhood weight status over and above measures of eating self-regulation. 185 4- to 5-year-old Latino children were recruited through Head Start centers in a large city in the southeastern U.S. Children completed both a delay of gratification task (emotion regulation) and an eating in the absence of hunger task (eating regulation). Eating regulation also was assessed by maternal reports. Four emotion regulation strategies were examined in the delay of gratification task: shut out stimuli, prevent movement, distraction, and attention to reward. Hierarchical linear regressions predicting children's weight status showed that both measures of eating regulation negatively predicted child obesity, and the use of prevent movement negatively predicted child obesity. Total wait time during the delay of gratification tasks was not a significant predictor. The current findings are consistent with studies showing that for preschool children, summary measures of emotion regulation (e.g., wait time) are not concurrently associated with child obesity. In contrast, the use of emotion regulation strategies was a significant predictor of lower child weight status. These findings help identify emotion regulation strategies that prevention programs can target for helping children regulate their emotions and decrease their obesity risk.
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