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. 2021 Aug 19;46(8):980-990.
doi: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsab025.

Effects of Parenting and Perceived Stress on BMI in African American Adolescents

Colby Kipp  1 , Dawn K Wilson  1 , Allison M Sweeney  1 , Nicole Zarrett  1 , M Lee Van Horn  2
Affiliations

Effects of Parenting and Perceived Stress on BMI in African American Adolescents

Colby Kipp et al. J Pediatr Psychol. .

Abstract

Objective: This study set out to examine the role of parenting practices in protecting or exacerbating the negative effects of parent and adolescent stress on adolescent body mass index (BMI) over time. Separate longitudinal models were conducted to evaluate how parenting practices interacted with parental perceived stress and adolescent perceived stress in predicting adolescent BMI.

Methods: Baseline data were collected from 148 African American adolescents (Mage = 12.93, SD = 1.75; Mz-BMI = 0.78, SD = 0.50; MBMI%-ile = 96.7, SD = 3.90) and their caregivers (Mage = 44.45, SD = 8.65; MBMI = 37.63, SD = 8.21) enrolled in the Families Improving Together for Weight Loss trial. Adolescents self-reported their perceptions of caregiver parenting style and feeding practices. Both caregivers and adolescents self-reported their perceptions of chronic stress. BMI for parents and adolescents was assessed objectively at baseline and 16 weeks post-intervention.

Results: Hierarchical regression models predicting adolescent BMI z-score (z-BMI) indicated a significant interaction between parental perceived stress and parental pressure to eat. Simple slopes analyses demonstrated that for those parents that exhibit higher pressure to eat, parent stress was positively associated with adolescent z-BMI.

Conclusions: These findings provide preliminary support suggesting that certain parenting practices interact with chronic stress on adolescent weight-related outcomes and that future interventions may consider integrating these factors.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01796067.

Keywords: health inequity; obesity and weight management; parenting; psychosocial functioning; race/ethnicity; stress.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Conditional interaction between parental pressure to eat and parent stress on adolescent z-BMI.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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