Exploring the impact of the early obesogenic home environment on children's growth and psychological development.
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leeds
Department Name: School of Psychology
Abstract
Background In 2015, 21.9% of children aged 4-5 and 33.3% of those aged 10-11 were either overweight (OW) or obese (OB) (PHE, 2017). OW and OB are associated with complex co-morbidities such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and psychosocial disturbances (Lakshman et al., 2012). The early home environment (HE) plays a critical role in the development of food preferences, eating behaviours and health in later life (Birch & Anzman, 2010). Objectives To examine: The effect of aspects of the early obesogenic HE on children's psychological and physiological development during childhood and how this tracks into adolescence. Geneenvironment interactions to assess the impact of early obesogenic HE on weight development based on genetic risk. Aspects of the HE within low socio-economic groups and to compare how early obesogenic HEs vary between different socio-economic groups. Hypothesis Aspects of the early obesogenic HE influence the physiological and psychological development of young people. Significance Recent NCMP figures highlight that more and more children are becoming OB before entering primary school. Previous research highlights that experiences during early childhood play a key role in increasing the risk of OB (Birch & Anzman, 2010). Little research has been conducted to longitudinally evaluate the role early environmental, biological and psychosocial experiences have on psychological and physiological development by early adolescence. This research will use advanced quantitative methods to provide a clear framework for examining how various early life environmental, biological and behavioural
factors affect psychological and physiological development during childhood and adolescence. This research will be used to ascertain early life predictors of growth and weight development and psychological outcomes (e.g. self-esteem, body image, disordered eating behaviours). The findings will be used to: inform the design of future interventions, make public health recommendations for modifying the HE to reduce risk of adverse physiological and psychological outcomes. Method Systematic review and meta-analysis of published data on the relationship between aspects of the early obesogenic HE and child body weight trajectory. Secondary data analysis of data from the Gemini Twin birth cohort study, a large sample of 2402 families with twins born in the UK in 2007. The dataset will be used to: Explore the influence of aspects of the early HE such as meal times, food accessibility/ availability, social, media and parental modelling on growth development and weight in young adolescence. Explore, using general linear models how these aspects of early HE influence psychosocial development (e.g. self-esteem) and the development of eating behaviours (e.g. food preferences) in young people. Use the twin method to explore the relative contributions of genes and HEs to growth and eating behaviour in childhood and examine gene-environment interactions to ascertain if the influence of the early HE mediates genetic risk of obesity in later childhood. Assess the extent to which the early HE accurately predicts child growth and weight development by using weight trajectory models. In the second phase of the research, data will be collected from low SES families using the HE questionnaire (HEQ), piloted in a low SES group to assess the usability of the measure in this sample. The measure will be adapted as required. The HEQ will then be used to collect new data in low SES families with children aged 4 years to mirror the Gemini study. These findings will be used to examine the obesogenic nature of the early HE in low SES families and compare these findings with the higher SES families from the Gemini study. References Birch & Anzman (2010). Child Development Perspectives, 4(2), 138-143 Lakshman et al., (2012). Circulation, 126(14), 1770-1779 Public Health England (2017). http://www.noo.org.uk/NOO_about_obesity/child_obesity
factors affect psychological and physiological development during childhood and adolescence. This research will be used to ascertain early life predictors of growth and weight development and psychological outcomes (e.g. self-esteem, body image, disordered eating behaviours). The findings will be used to: inform the design of future interventions, make public health recommendations for modifying the HE to reduce risk of adverse physiological and psychological outcomes. Method Systematic review and meta-analysis of published data on the relationship between aspects of the early obesogenic HE and child body weight trajectory. Secondary data analysis of data from the Gemini Twin birth cohort study, a large sample of 2402 families with twins born in the UK in 2007. The dataset will be used to: Explore the influence of aspects of the early HE such as meal times, food accessibility/ availability, social, media and parental modelling on growth development and weight in young adolescence. Explore, using general linear models how these aspects of early HE influence psychosocial development (e.g. self-esteem) and the development of eating behaviours (e.g. food preferences) in young people. Use the twin method to explore the relative contributions of genes and HEs to growth and eating behaviour in childhood and examine gene-environment interactions to ascertain if the influence of the early HE mediates genetic risk of obesity in later childhood. Assess the extent to which the early HE accurately predicts child growth and weight development by using weight trajectory models. In the second phase of the research, data will be collected from low SES families using the HE questionnaire (HEQ), piloted in a low SES group to assess the usability of the measure in this sample. The measure will be adapted as required. The HEQ will then be used to collect new data in low SES families with children aged 4 years to mirror the Gemini study. These findings will be used to examine the obesogenic nature of the early HE in low SES families and compare these findings with the higher SES families from the Gemini study. References Birch & Anzman (2010). Child Development Perspectives, 4(2), 138-143 Lakshman et al., (2012). Circulation, 126(14), 1770-1779 Public Health England (2017). http://www.noo.org.uk/NOO_about_obesity/child_obesity
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Alison Fildes (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Alice Kininmonth (Student) |
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES/P000746/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/09/2027 | |||
| 1948633 | Studentship | ES/P000746/1 | 01/10/2017 | 28/02/2022 | Alice Kininmonth |
| Description | A comprehensive measure of home environment was updated and validated for use in parents of school-aged children. This measure assessed physical and social aspects of the home food, physical activity and media environments. This measure was utilised to collect data in a longitudinal cohort of families from the UK when their children were aged 4 and 12. It is the first time data on the home environment has been measured at two key developmental time points. The findings revealed that the home environment tracked over time, indicating that children living in higher risk home environments at age 4 continued to live in higher-risk home environments at age 12. Although continuity was observed at the individual level, the home environment became more obesogenic in nature over the 8 year period, from age 4 to 12, with households reporting greater availability and access to energy-dense foods, sugar sweetened beverages, electronic media devices and fewer family mealtimes. The 'obesogenic' nature of the home environment was associated with children's food intake, physical activity levels, screen-based sedentary behaviours and weight at age 12. Children living in higher-risk (more obesogenic) home environments were less likely to consume fruits and vegetables, more likely to consume energy-dense snacks, convenience foods and fast foods compared to those living in lower-risk (less obesogenic) home environments. Living in higher-risk home environments was also associated with engaging in less physical activity, and more time spent engaged in screen-time and playing video games. At age 12, living in a higher-risk home environment was also associated with higher weight. The early media environment also acted as a predictor of future weight in childhood. Living in higher-risk media environments at age 4 predicted greater increases in child weight at age 12. These findings indicate the importance of the early home media environment for child weight development and suggest the media environment may be an important avenue for intervention/preventative strategies. The genetic and environmental influences on children's appetite (particularly how responsive they were to food cues) was found to vary by the obesogenic risk within the home environment. The home media environment was found to be particularly influence here, with the shared environmental influence on food responsiveness found to be higher in lower-risk home media environments. These findings suggest that a lower-risk home media environment (with fewer cues to eat potentially via less exposure to food advertising) may be protective against the expression of a more avid appetite (food responsiveness). |
| Exploitation Route | This research could be taken forward to develop obesity intervention or preventative strategies that focus on the home environment. |
| Sectors | Healthcare,Other |
| Title | Update of Home Environment Interview (HEI) for use in parents of school aged children |
| Description | In 2019/20 the original version of the Home Environment Interview, which was developed for pre-school aged children (S Schrempft, van Jaarsveld, Fisher, & Wardle, 2015) was updated for use in older children, . Version 2 of the HEI was developed in four phases; (1) consultation with a panel of experts (n=6) to update the HEI in an iterative process; (2) one-to-one interviews in a purposive sample of parents (n=14) with children aged 11-13, using cognitive interviewing techniques to assess face validity, feasibility and comprehension of the measure; (3) administration of the HEI via a computer-assisted telephone interview with a sub-sample of parents of 12-13 year old children enrolled in the Gemini cohort study; and (4) a second interview with a small sample of the cohort 7-14 days after the initial interview to examine test-retest reliability. Consultation with experts highlighted the need to increase the scope of questions about the home media environment to reflect the major technological changes that have occurred in recent years, such as increases in the range of electronic devices and changes in use of social media. Cognitive interviews revealed good acceptability, face validity and comprehension for the updated measurement tool. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The updated HEI acts as a comprehensive measure of the overall obesogenic home environment. The home environment interview assesses a range of physical (availability and accessibility) and social (caregiver support, caregiver limit setting aspects of the home food, activity and media environments. Caregivers also reported on their children's food intake, activity levels and screen-based sedentary behaviours. The update of the measure has meant that data collection could be undertaken in the Gemini cohort in order to examine changes in the obesogenic nature of the home environment from age 4 to 12. |
| Title | Gemini T10 data collection |
| Description | Between December 2019 and March 2020, families enrolled in the Gemini twin cohort were invited to participate in a round of data collection. Data were collected via researcher administered telephone interview, which lasted on average 45 minutes. The telephone interview asking families to provide detailed information about physical and social aspects of the home environment. Data cleaning and analysis are now complete and the data has been published. |
| Type Of Material | Data handling & control |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The resulting cleaned dataset is a vital resource to the completion of this PhD. |
| Description | Gemini Newsletter 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | An article providing an overview of the project was published in the annual Gemini newsletter. The newsletter was distributed to the entire Gemini cohort (up to 2400 families) and published online via the study website. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.geministudy.co.uk/newsletters |
| Description | Infographic about home environment research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | I created an infographic to summarise my PhD research, this aimed to be an engaging piece to provide members of the public, other researchers and study participants with more information about the research that I am doing into the home enviroment. This was seen widely and shared on twitter and I was invited to be interviewed by the European Association for the Study of Obesity after they had seen my infographic. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.geministudy.co.uk/post/gemini-research-blog-series-alice |
| Description | Interview discussing my PhD research about the home environment |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I was invited to be interviewed for an international podcast about my PhD research examining the obesogenic home environment, appetite and weight. This interview was part of a series on "Appetite, behaviour and weight", in which researchers in this area of research were interviewed. This is an international podcast which is available via Spotify and Youtube. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y3vGzVJGf0 |
| Description | Newletter sent to Gemini study families |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Each year an annual newsletter (a digital copy via email and on the study website, and a hard copy via post to families' homes) is sent out to all of the Gemini participating families, summarising the activity from Gemini during the preceding year. In this issue I detailed findings from my PhD research and provided information about publications and conferences presented at. The families value the annual newsletter enormously and often email comments afterwards. This is one of the most important ways that we keep the cohort engaged. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| URL | https://www.geministudy.co.uk/newsletters |
| Description | Pitched research project to senior researchers at Born in Bradford |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The purpose of this activity was to present my research project to researchers at Born in Bradford and propose conducting research within the Better Start Born in Bradford (BiBBS) cohort. The group that I presented to were really interested in the research and had lots of questions, they were also interested for BiBBS to be involved within my PhD and as a result of this presentation we agreed that we would further progress this collaboration. I subsequently completed the necessary paperwork to collaborate with BiBBS. However, during my PhD transfer Viva it was agreed that the scope of my PhD was too large and this work would need to be postponed but it is something that I would like to pursue in future, hopefully after completing my PhD. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Presentation at ECOG 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presentated a short oral communication at the European Congress on Obesity Annual Conference 2021 - the talk was entitled "The longitudinal impact of the early obesogenic home environment on child weight" and received much interest from attendees. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Presenting research at University College London Energy Balance Research Group Meetings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This meeting is attended by senior researchers and postgraduate researchers from the Department of Behavioural Science and Health at University College London. My presentation provided an overview of my PhD research and it sparked questions from attendees and increased interest in my research. I have since presented at this group again. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020 |
| Description | Presenting research at annual PGR conference in School of Psychology |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This activity was an all day conference which involved 15 minute talks by postgraduate researchers in their second year of PhD to explain their research projects and progress to date. This event was attended by postgraduate students, undergraduate students, researchers and academics within the department and other departments at the University of leeds. This event sparked numerous questions about my research and I was able to engage in discussions with other researchers/academics with an interest in my research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Published an article for the news outlet, The Conversation, to accompany a recent academic publication. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In collaboration with my co-authors I published an article to accompany our recent published study, which explored whether socioeconomic status influences a child's appetite from toddlerhood to early childhood. I pitched the article to the online news outlet The Conversation to increase the amount of exposure for the research. The article was very popular and well shared via twitter, facebook and other social media outlets. To date, the article has had over 6000 views/reads and it has been shared over 60 times on twitter. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://theconversation.com/social-deprivation-linked-to-changes-in-eating-styles-in-early-childhood... |