title: The impact of maternal overweight and emotion regulation on early eating behaviors.
abstract: Empirical data indicate that the risk for childhood obesity and overweight increases when one or both parents are overweight or obese. Such an association, however, cannot be entirely explained only by biological factors. Based on available literature, we hypothesized that maternal emotion regulation might play a role in explaining the intergenerational transfer of overweight and obesity. We conducted a quasi-experimental, longitudinal study: (step I) during the third trimester of pregnancy of 65 Italian women (33 overweight and 32 non-overweight), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale were administered to assess the quality of their emotion regulation strategies; and (step II) seven months after the delivery, the feeding interactions between the participants and their babies were evaluated in a 20-minute video-recording, by using the Italian version of the Observational Scale for Mother-Infant Interaction during Feeding. When compared to the non-overweight group, the overweight group had more difficulties in emotion regulation, was more psychologically distressed, and had poorer feeding interactions with their babies. Perhaps more importantly, the extent to which the participants were suffering difficulties in emotion regulation during pregnancy predicted, significantly, and beyond the effects of pre-pregnancy maternal weight, the quality of the mother-child feeding interactions 7months after the delivery.
authors: Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Via degli Apuli 1, 00185, Italy. Electronic address: gaiadecampora@gmail.com.
authors: Gaia
authors: G
authors: de Campora
authors: Alliant International University, California School of Professional Psychology, 10455 Pomerado Road, San Diego, CA 92131, United States. Electronic address: lgiromini@alliant.edu.
authors: Luciano
authors: L
authors: Giromini
authors: Fatebenefratelli Hospital, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Piazza Fatebenefratelli 2, Rome, 00186, Italy. Electronic address: giovanni.larciprete@fbf-isola.it.
authors: Giovanni
authors: G
authors: Larciprete
authors: Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Via degli Apuli 1, 00185, Italy. Electronic address: vale.liv@hotmail.it.
authors: Valentina
authors: V
authors: Li Volsi
authors: Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Via degli Apuli 1, 00185, Italy. Electronic address: giuliocesare.zavattini@uniroma1.it.
authors: Giulio Cesare
authors: GC
authors: Zavattini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004644:Emotions; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology
keywords: BMI; Early eating behaviors; Emotion regulation; Overweight; Pregnancy; Risk factors