Maternal Relationship and Weight Gain

The study, published in Pediatrics, tracked 977 children who were born in 1991 and enrolled in the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Researchers found that those who had poor emotional bonds with their mothers in toddlerhood were more than twice as likely to become obese by age 15, compared with children who had healthy relationships — the less secure the children’s early bond with Mom, the greater their chances of obesity.

Among the teens who had shown the lowest-quality emotional relationships with their mothers by age 3, more than 26% were obese, compared with 13% of those who had been closer to Mom in early life.

The study’s authors, led by Sarah Anderson, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Ohio State University, suggest that the association between teen obesity and early childhood experience may have its roots in the brain, in areas that regulate hormones influencing emotion and stress response, as well as the sleep-wake cycle, appetite and other metabolic functions.