Predicting Weight Outcomes in Preadolescence: The Role of Toddlers’ Self-regulation Skills and the Temperament Dimension of Pleasure

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of toddlers’ self-regulation skills and temperament in predicting weight outcomes in preadolescence. METHOD: Participants for this study included 195 children (114 girls) obtained from three different cohorts participating in a larger ongoing longitudinal study. At 2 years of age, participants participated in several laboratory tasks designed to assess their self-regulation abilities, including emotion regulation, sustained attention, and delay of gratification, while parents filled out a temperament questionnaire to assess toddlers’ pleasure expression. Height and weight measures were collected when children were 4, 5, 7, and 10 years of age. Children also filled out a body image and eating questionnaire at the 10 year visit. RESULTS: Self-regulation skills in toddlers were associated with both BMI development, pediatric obesity, and body image/eating concerns. The temperament dimension of pleasure was also associated with BMI development and pediatric obesity but not body image/eating concerns. CONCLUSION: Self-regulation difficulties across domains as well as temperament based pleasure in toddlers represented significant individual risk factors for the development of pediatric obesity eight years later. Early self-regulation difficulties also contributed to body image and eating concerns that typically accompanied overweight children. The mechanisms by which early self-regulation skills and temperament based pleasure may contribute to the development of pediatric obesity and associated weight concerns are discussed.