Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Division of Women's Mental Health, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts, USA.
Obesity (Silver Spring). 2020 Sep;28(9):1761-1769. doi: 10.1002/oby.22926. Epub 2020 Aug 7.
Research suggests that higher childhood self-regulation (CSR) predicts lower adiposity in adolescence. However, it is unclear whether this relationship differs by sex or by baseline weight status. Thus, this study investigated these questions in a longitudinal, community-based cohort.
The cohort included 221 girls and 214 boys. At age 9, CSR was assessed via parent/teacher reports of effortful control, and childhood BMI z scores (BMIz) were calculated from staff measurements. Late-adolescent waist-to-height ratio was based on staff measurements at age 18.
CSR has a small inverse correlation with concurrent childhood BMIz in girls, but not in boys. Prospectively, however, CSR has a small inverse association with late-adolescent weight-to-height ratio in both sexes, after adjusting for childhood BMIz and other childhood predictors. This prospective association is marginally stronger for girls with higher (vs. lower) childhood BMIz.
CSR inversely predicts changes in adiposity across adolescence in both sexes, with some evidence that this association is stronger for girls with higher (vs. lower) childhood adiposity. However, this inverse association between CSR and adiposity may emerge earlier in girls. Future research should examine the causal status of CSR and its relationship to behaviors (e.g., diet).
研究表明，较高的儿童自我调节能力（CSR）可预测青少年时期较低的肥胖率。然而，尚不清楚这种关系是否因性别或基线体重状况而异。因此，本研究在一项基于社区的纵向队列研究中调查了这些问题。
该队列包括 221 名女孩和 214 名男孩。在 9 岁时，通过家长/教师报告的努力控制来评估 CSR，并且根据工作人员的测量计算出儿童 BMIz 分数（BMIz）。根据工作人员在 18 岁时的测量，得出青少年后期的腰高比。
CSR 与女孩同期的儿童 BMIz 呈负相关，但与男孩无关。然而，前瞻性地，在调整了儿童 BMIz 和其他儿童预测因素后，CSR 与两性青少年后期的体重与身高比呈负相关。对于 BMIz 较高（与较低）的女孩，这种前瞻性关联更强。
CSR 可反向预测两性青少年时期的肥胖变化，有证据表明，对于 BMIz 较高（与较低）的女孩，这种关联更强。然而，CSR 与肥胖之间的这种负相关关系可能在女孩中更早出现。未来的研究应检验 CSR 的因果地位及其与行为（例如饮食）的关系。
