Abigail Christian
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Research Mentor(s): Katherine Bauer, Assistant Professor
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Nutritional Sciences, School of Public Health
Presentation Date: Thursday, April 22, 2021
Session: Session 2 (11am – 11:50am)
Breakout Room: Room 12
Presenter: 3
Abstract
In the SPROUT study, we seek to understand how mothers’ self-regulation, their nutritional parenting practices, child self-regulation and child weight are all related. Since we know that self-regulation is a risk factor for obesity in adults, we are looking how that self-regulation in a family structure might impact children’s weight. More specifically, we are focusing on the plausible link between self-regulation in mothers, and young children’s adiposity, through the effect of mothers’ self-regulation on engagement in parenting techniques that encourage children’s healthy weight. Our hypothesis is that poor self-regulation in mothers hinders their engagement in the parenting techniques described above, and therefore can lead to less support for a child’s health and excessive gains in weight in their young children. By understanding these relationships, we can more accurately counsel families in the future and work to slow childhood obesity rates. Methods to obtain information about this include recruiting a diverse group of 300 pairs of mothers and their preschoolers and conducting several data collection visits with the pairs over a span of 3 years. There are not yet results due to the pausing of data collection due to the COVID19 pandemic. As UROP students, we worked on participant recruitment, collecting data regarding what families served for dinners, and translation of study materials into Spanish. We also learned the qualities of effective teamwork, which will guide us in future leadership opportunities.
Authors: Abigail Christian, Momoka Saito, Katherine Bauer
Research Method: Clinical Research
