Psychosocial Adjustment as a Mediator in the Relationship between Childhood Exposure to Maternal Depression and Subsequent BMI and Overweight Risk

Lijie Niu; Skylar Hanson; Juanita Preciado-Becerra; Abdulaziz Eskandarani; Xiaomeng Lei; Mi Le; Zhongzheng Niu; Bin Xie

doi:10.3390/children11040441

Psychosocial Adjustment as a Mediator in the Relationship between Childhood Exposure to Maternal Depression and Subsequent BMI and Overweight Risk

Children (Basel). 2024 Apr 6;11(4):441. doi: 10.3390/children11040441.

Authors

Lijie Niu¹, Skylar Hanson¹, Juanita Preciado-Becerra¹, Abdulaziz Eskandarani¹, Xiaomeng Lei^{1

2}, Mi Le¹, Zhongzheng Niu^{1

3}, Bin Xie¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Community and Global Health, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA 91711, USA.
² Department of Radiology and Neurology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.
³ Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.

Abstract

Objectives: This study investigated the correlation between early exposure to maternal depression (from 1 month to Grade 3) and the body mass index (BMI) and potential for overweight in adolescents at age 15. It further examined if the pathway of this correlation was influenced by psychosocial adjustment during mid-childhood (Grade 3 to Grade 6), specifically through internalizing and externalizing behaviors.

Methods: Our study utilized data from 844 participants in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) to assess the effects of maternal depression, observed from when the children were one month old to Grade 3, on BMI and the likelihood of overweight or obesity in adolescents aged 15. We also explored whether the average scores of internalizing and externalizing behaviors between Grades 3 and 6 mediated the impact of early maternal depressive symptoms on subsequent health outcomes. The analysis was adjusted for demographic and socioeconomic factors.

Results: Findings revealed that internalizing and externalizing behavioral issues significantly mediated the relationship between prolonged maternal depression exposure and subsequent BMI, as well as the risk of overweight or obesity, in adolescents at age 15. Notably, this mediating effect was predominantly evident in girls.

Conclusions: Our research demonstrated that the correlation between prolonged exposure to maternal depressive symptoms in childhood and increased BMI and overweight risk in adolescence was significantly mediated through psychosocial adjustment behaviors. We advocate for further exploration of additional mediating factors in future studies.

Keywords: BMI; maternal depression; obesity; psychosocial adjustment.

Grants and funding

The SECCYD was conducted by the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network supported by NICHD through a cooperative agreement that calls for scientific collaboration between the grantees and the NICHD staff. Claremont Graduate University has restricted data use agreements to analyze the SECCYD data. This secondary data analysis research was supported by the American Heart Association, United States (grant number 15GRNT25700346; principal investigator of Bin Xie).