Developmental Connections Between Socioemotional Well-being and Body Weight in Contexts of Socioeconomic Risks

Abstract

Socioemotional difficulties in childhood have been associated with body weight status and the subsequent development of obesity later in life. However, existing research often overlooks the developmental and dynamic nature of socioemotional functioning. Additionally, there is a lack of systematic examination of this relation across varied aspects of socioeconomic risks. Recent research has highlighted a seemingly paradoxical effect, wherein socioemotional competence is associated with adverse health outcomes among socioeconomically disadvantaged minority youths. Yet, obesity per se has received little attention in this literature. The present dissertation adds to the extant literature by examining links between socioemotional well-being and body weight across socioeconomic contexts. Specifically, the present dissertation provides three empirical papers using secondary analyses of large-scale longitudinal studies of children and adolescents to examine associations between sustained socioemotional competency and body weight. In each paper, the potential moderating role of socioeconomic risks and concerns for robustness across children’s racial/ethnic backgrounds are foci. Paper 1 estimated developmental trajectories of behavior problems from ages 5-6 to 13-14 and assessed whether body mass index (BMI) at ages 21-22 varied by behavior problem trajectory patterns, poverty status, and their interaction. Paper 2 identified self-control trajectories during elementary school, examined their impact on fifth-grade BMI, and explored whether the association between self-control trajectories and BMI differed by poverty status. Lastly, Paper 3 examined associations between self-control across the elementary school years and BMI at the end of elementary school, while allowing these associations by poverty dynamics and exposure to an accumulation of socioeconomic and contextual risks. Across three papers, all analyses were conducted for the entire sample and by racial/ethnic group. Results generally supported the protective role of socioemotional competency in preventing unhealthy body weight, regardless of socioeconomic risks. However, this relation was often less evident for children of color than for White children. These findings are interpreted with concern for the complex roles of disadvantage in children’s lives as pertains to social-emotional adjustment and body weight. The practical significance of the papers is focused on informing intervention efforts based on improved understandings of when, for whom, and under what conditions socioemotional competency is associated with health benefits, risks, or neither.