Parent Stress Intervention Can Reduce Stress and Child Obesity

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By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Judith Stewart, BPharm. Last updated on March 12, 2026.

via HealthDay

THURSDAY, March 12, 2026 -- A novel parent stress intervention with nutrition can reduce obesity among young children, according to a study published online March 6 in Pediatrics.

Nia Fogelman, Ph.D., from Yale Stress Center in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues conducted a prospective 12-week randomized controlled trial involving parents and their young children (aged 2 to 5 years) who had overweight (114 dyads). Participants were randomly assigned to the Parenting Mindfully for Health (PMH) or control (CTL) weekly group intervention, each with nutrition and physical activity (N) psychoeducation (PMH+N and CTL+N). Coprimary outcomes were changes in child body mass index (BMI) and parent stress. Secondary outcomes were observed parenting in an established laboratory-based parent-child Toy-Wait Task (TWT) and child food intake.

The researchers observed a significant increase of 0.41 in the child BMI z-score in the CTL+N group, while it remained unchanged in the PMH+N group during the three-month follow-up. Parent stress decreased in the PMH+N group only (3.17 points). Increased TWT positive parenting (2.82) and reduced unhealthy child food intake (−1.78) were indicated, driven by the PMH+N arm. There was an interaction seen for parent stress with the PMH+N versus CTL+N intervention to predict lower TWT positive parenting and child healthy food intake in the CTL+N arm (−1.74 and −3.41, respectively).

"We already knew that stress can be a big contributor in the development of childhood obesity," lead author Rajita Sinha, Ph.D., also from the Yale Stress Center, said in a statement. "The surprise was that when parents handled stress better, their parenting improved, and their young child's obesity risk went down."

Two authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

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Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

Source: HealthDay

Posted : 2026-03-13 01:48

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