title: Associations of maternal stress with children's weight-related behaviours: a systematic literature review.
abstract: Low adherence to guidelines for weight-related behaviours (e.g. dietary intake and physical activity) among US children underscores the need to better understand how parental factors may influence children's obesity risk. In addition to most often acting as primary caregiver to their children, women are also known to experience greater levels of stress than men. This study systematically reviewed associations between maternal stress and children's weight-related behaviours. Our search returned 14 eligible articles, representing 25 unique associations of maternal stress with a distinct child weight-related behaviour (i.e. healthy diet [n = 3], unhealthy diet [n = 6], physical activity [n = 7] and sedentary behaviour [n = 9]). Overall, findings for the relationship between maternal stress and children's weight-related behaviours were mixed, with no evidence for an association with children's healthy or unhealthy dietary intake, but fairly consistent evidence for the association of maternal stress with children's lower physical activity and higher sedentary behaviour. Recommendations for future research include prioritizing prospective designs, identifying moderators, and use of high-resolution, real-time data collection techniques to elucidate potential mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Maher
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
authors.forename: B R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Belcher
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Leventhal
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Margolin
authors.affiliation: Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, ChildObesity180, Tufts University, Boston, USA.
authors.forename: E T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Shonkoff
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Dunton
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D004032:Diet; D000072001:Diet, Healthy; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Childhood obesity; maternal mental health; weight-related behaviour