Abstract
Objective: This study examined whether women's exposure to multiple types of violence during childhood and pregnancy was associated with children's BMI trajectories and whether parenting quality moderated those associations. Methods: A cohort of 1288 women who gave birth between 2006 and 2011 self-reported their exposure to childhood traumatic events, intimate partner violence (IPV), and residential address (linked to geocoded index of violent crime) during pregnancy. Children's length/height and weight at birth and at age 1, 2, 3, 4 to 6, and 8 years were converted to BMI z scores. Observed mother–child interactions were behaviorally coded during a dyadic teaching task. Results: Covariate-adjusted growth mixture models identified three trajectories of children's BMI from birth to 8 years old: Low-Stable (17%), Moderate-Stable (59%), and High-Rising (22%). Children whose mothers experienced more types of IPV during pregnancy were more likely to be in the High-Rising than the Low-Stable (odds ratio [OR] = 2.62; 95% CI: 1.27–5.41) trajectory. Children whose mothers lived in higher crime neighborhoods were more likely to be in the High-Rising than the Low-Stable (OR = 1.11; 95% CI:1.03–1.17) or Moderate-Stable trajectories (OR = 1.08; CI: 1.03–1.13). Main effects of childhood traumatic events and moderation by parenting were not detected. Conclusions: Maternal experiences of violence during pregnancy increase children's risk for developing overweight, highlighting intergenerational transmission of social adversity in children's health.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 2119-2128 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Obesity |
Volume | 31 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 2023 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Medicine (miscellaneous)
- Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
- Endocrinology
- Nutrition and Dietetics