title: Psychosocial environment in childhood and body mass index growth over 32years.
abstract: The psychosocial environment and especially various psychosocial risks in childhood have been shown to predict later negative health behavior and health problems. In this study, we examined whether various psychosocial factor domains in childhood and adolescence: socioeconomic status, the emotional family environment (parental nurturance, life-satisfaction), parental lifestyle, life-events, the child's self-regulatory behavior and the child's social adaptation were associated with body mass index (BMI) trajectories individually by domain and as a cumulative score across domains. The participants were a nationally representative sample of 2016 men and women from the Young Finns study aged 3-18years at study entry in 1980. Their BMI was measured at six study phases from 1980 to 2012. Their parents reported all the factors related to their psychosocial environment in 1980. The participants responded to questions on adulthood socioeconomic status in 2007. The accumulation of psychosocial factors in childhood was the main exposure variable. The findings from repeated measures multilevel modeling showed that parental lifestyle and life-events and the more positive cumulative psychosocial factors score were associated with a slower increase in BMI during follow-up (regression coefficient range from -0.06 to -0.50). In conclusion, the psychosocial environment in childhood and adolescence, particularly parental lifestyle and lack of stressful life-events, are associated with a lower increase of BMI.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland; IBS, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: marko.elovainio@thl.fi.
authors.forename: Marko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elovainio
authors.affiliation: IBS, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland; Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pulkki-Råback
authors.affiliation: IBS, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hakulinen
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Chemistry, Fimlab Laboratories and School of Medicine, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Terho
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lehtimäki
authors.affiliation: The Department of Pediatrics, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Eero
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jokinen
authors.affiliation: The Department of Pediatrics, University of Helsinki, Finland; Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Tapani
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rönnemaa
authors.affiliation: The Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland; Department of Children and Adolescents, Oulu University Hospital, PEDEGO Research Group, and Medical Research Center Oulu, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mikkilä
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Tampere and Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Päivi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tossavainen
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland.
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jula
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hutri-Kähönen
authors.affiliation: Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Turku, Finland; Department of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland; Division of Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Jorma
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Viikari
authors.affiliation: IBS, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Liisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Keltikangas-Järvinen
authors.affiliation: Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Turku, Finland; Department of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland; Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland; Division of Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Olli
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Raitakari
authors.affiliation: Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Turku, Finland; Department of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland; Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland; Division of Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Juonala
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Childhood; Growth curve; Longitudinal; Obesity; Psychological; Weight