title: Divorce and eating behaviors: a 5-day within-subject study of preadolescent obesity risk.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Obesity rates have more than doubled among children and have tripled among adolescents since the 1980s, and currently more than one third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese. Parental divorce is a time of family upheaval, yet little is known about the family processes that link family structure and obesity.
  
  
  METHODS
  The current study gathered a 5-day eating behavior questionnaire from 37 preadolescents (mean=10.26 years; standard deviation=1.32; 32.4% female) and one parent to explore whether marital status was linked to obesity risk behaviors (i.e., high consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), low consumption of produce, skipping breakfast, and eating dinners away from the home) and whether family context (e.g., parent time spent with child, parental acceptance, and family routines) mediated that link.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results showed that preadolescents in divorced families consumed more SSBs than preadolescents in married families, and there was a trend for less-frequent breakfast consumption among preadolescents in the divorced families. Of the three family context variables, only family routines explained the link between family structure and obesity risk.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study highlights the importance of family processes during divorce to understand the etiology and prevalence of child and adolescent obesity.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University , San Francisco, CA.
authors.forename: Susan S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Mauskopf
authors.forename: Allison K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: O'Leary
authors.forename: Adria
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Banihashemi
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weiner
authors.forename: Jeffrey T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Cookston
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D015930:Diet Records; D004243:Divorce / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012495:San Francisco / Q000453:epidemiology; D012931:Social Environment