Files
Abstract
Childhood overweight and obesity is one of the greatest challenges facing public health practitioners in the United States. The number of children who are overweight or obese in the country has grown considerably over the past few decades with rates highest among minority and low-income communities. Overweight or obese children are at an increased risk for physical and emotional health issues. While many risk factors for childhood overweight and obesity have been identified, it is imperative to identify other potential influencing factors since the prevalence remains high. Maternal mental health may be one such factor as the emotional well-being of a mother has been linked to child health outcomes. However, few studies have examined the maternal mental health-childhood overweight/obesity association and results have been conflicting. As such, the primary aim of this study was to determine whether children whose mothers reported poor mental health had increased odds of overweight and obesity and whether the child’s race/ethnicity was an effect modifier of the association. Self-reported data collected from 29,307 mothers of children ages 10 to 17 participating in the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) were used in this secondary data analysis. Multivariate logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Children of mothers who reported poor maternal mental health had increased odds of overweight and obesity as compared to children of mothers who reported good mental and emotional health in the unadjusted model (OR=1.66, 95% CI: 1.36, 2.02). However, after adjustment for maternal education, marital status, family structure, and household income the finding was no longer statistically significant (OR=1.19, 95% CI: 0.97, 1.47). Additionally, race/ethnicity of the child was found to be an effect modifier of the maternal mental health-childhood overweight/obesity association (non-Hispanic white: OR=1.45, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.92; non-Hispanic black: OR=0.90, 95% CI: 0.59, 1.37; Hispanic: OR=0.94, 95% CI: 0.57, 1.54; Other: OR=1.69, 95% CI: 0.92, 3.09). Further prospective studies on this topic are needed as findings may have important policy implications and result in targeted maternal mental health interventions as a means to prevent childhood overweight and obesity.