Pilot Project, Year 3

Latino fathers’ stress and their children’s obesity risk

Latino children are disproportionately at high risk for childhood obesity, adult obesity and related diseases. Parent-based interventions, typically addressing maternal weight-related parenting practices (e.g., modeling, restricting, monitoring, limiting, and encouraging children’s dietary, physical activity [PA], and sedentary behaviors [SB]), have been largely unsuccessful in preventing increases in children’s adiposity.

Additionally, there is growing evidence to suggest that levels of psychological stress experienced by mothers may compromise parenting practices concerning their child’s weight, but little research examining how fathers’ stress may contribute to the risk of obesity in children.

Finally, research has focused on between-person methods, limiting inferences about within-day behavior changes in the same subject. To address these research gaps, the proposed study will use ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methods to examine how within-day variability in Latino fathers’ stress may influence their subsequent parenting practices leading to changes in children’s eating, PA, and SB, and their subsequent obesity risk.

We will recruit 50 fathers and their 8 to 12-year-old children (50 dyads, 100 participants) to undergo three assessments spaced six months apart consisting of seven days of EMA and salivary cortisol sampling to measure stress, accelerometry to measure PA and SB, two 24-hour food recalls, and height, weight, and waist circumference.

The primary aims are to examine the within-day, longitudinal, and differential effects of Latino fathers’ stress on their children’s dietary, PA and SB. Results from this study will inform the development of a future child obesity prevention intervention using a just-in-time intervention methodology to address parenting practices.

Funding: The study is funded by NIMHD/NIH U54MD012388

About the investigators