Exploring the Interaction Between Preschool Executive Control and Caregiver Emotion Socialization in Predicting Adolescent Weight Trajectories

• Published in: Journal of youth and adolescence 2024-03, Vol.53 (3), p.656-668
• Main Authors: Laifer, Lauren M., Brock, Rebecca L., Tomaso, Cara C., James, Tiffany D., Yaroch, Amy L., Hill, Jennie L., Huang, Terry T., Nelson, Jennifer Mize, Mason, W. Alex, Espy, Kimberly Andrews, Nelson, Timothy D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Body Composition; Body height; Body mass index; Body weight; Body-Weight Trajectory; Caregivers; Child; Child and School Psychology; Child development; Child, Preschool; Clinical Psychology; Emotions; Emotions - physiology; Empirical Research; Executive Function; Female; Health Promotion; Health Psychology; History of Psychology; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Law and Psychology; Longitudinal Studies; Mother-Child Relations - psychology; Obesity; Overweight; Preschool children; Psychology; Scientific Concepts; Socialization; Task performance; Youth
• ISSN: 0047-2891; 1573-6601; 1573-6601
• DOI: 10.1007/s10964-023-01928-x

There is a critical need for research examining how neural vulnerabilities associated with obesity, including lower executive control, interact with family factors to impact weight trajectories across adolescence. Utilizing a longitudinal design, the present study investigated caregivers’ emotion socialization practices as a moderator of the association between preschool executive control and adolescent body mass index (BMI) trajectories. Participants were 229 youth ( M age  = 5.24, SD = 0.03; 47.2% assigned female at birth; 73.8% White, 3.9% Black, 0.4% Asian American, 21.8% multiracial; 12.7% Hispanic) enrolled in a longitudinal study. At preschool-age, participants completed performance-based executive control tasks, and their caregivers reported on their typical emotion-related socialization behaviors (i.e., supportive and nonsupportive responses to children’s negative emotions). Participants returned for annual laboratory visits at ages 14 through 17, during which their height and weight were measured to calculate BMI. Although neither preschool executive control nor caregiver emotion-related socialization behaviors were directly associated with BMI growth in adolescence, supportive responses moderated the association between executive control and BMI trajectories. The expected negative association between lower preschool executive control and greater BMI growth was present at below average levels of supportive responses, suggesting that external regulation afforded by supportive responses might reduce risk for adolescent overweight and obesity among children with lower internal self-regulatory resources during preschool. Findings highlight the importance of efforts to bolster executive control early in development and targeted interventions to promote effective caregiver emotion socialization (i.e., more supportive responses) for youth with lower internal self-regulatory abilities to mitigate risk for overweight and obesity and promote health across childhood and adolescence.