title: Bedtime in Preschool-Aged Children and Risk for Adolescent Obesity.
abstract: To determine whether preschool-aged children with earlier bedtimes have a lower risk for adolescent obesity and whether this risk reduction is modified by maternal sensitivity.
  
  
  
  Data from 977 of 1364 participants in the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development were analyzed. Healthy singleton-births at 10 US sites in 1991 were eligible for enrollment. In 1995-1996, mothers reported their preschool-aged (mean = 4.7 years) child's typical weekday bedtime, and mother-child interaction was observed to assess maternal sensitivity. At a mean age of 15 years, height and weight were measured and adolescent obesity defined as a sex-specific body-mass-index-for-age ≥95th percentile of the US reference.
  
  
  
  One-quarter of preschool-aged children had early bedtimes (8:00 p.m. or earlier), one-half had bedtimes after 8:00 p.m. but by 9:00 p.m., and one-quarter had late bedtimes (after 9:00 p.m.). Children's bedtimes were similar regardless of maternal sensitivity (P = .2). The prevalence of adolescent obesity was 10%, 16%, and 23%, respectively, across early to late bedtime groups. The multivariable-adjusted relative risk (95% CI) for adolescent obesity was 0.48 (0.29, 0.82) for preschoolers with early bedtimes compared with preschoolers with late bedtimes. This risk was not modified by maternal sensitivity (P = .99).
  
  
  
  Preschool-aged children with early weekday bedtimes were one-half as likely as children with late bedtimes to be obese as adolescents. Bedtimes are a modifiable routine that may help to prevent obesity.
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. Electronic address: sanderson@cph.osu.edu.
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Division of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Andridge
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health; Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine; Center for Obesity Research and Education, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Robert C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Whitaker
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012890:Sleep; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: epidemiology; longitudinal study; maternal sensitivity; parenting; prospective; sleep