DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/PAGP-7S95
Defense Date
2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Counseling Psychology
First Advisor
Suzanne Mazzeo
Abstract
Pediatric obesity is a major public health concern that affects over 14.4 million children and adolescents in the United States. Multiple short- and long-term health complications are associated with obesity. Therefore, effective treatment methods are needed in order to ameliorate the effects of said complications, particularly among adolescents. This dissertation investigated potential associations between parent eating behaviors and the outcomes of adolescents enrolled in a pediatric weight loss trial (TEENS+; PI: Bean, R21HD084930). The TEENS+ intervention offered a comprehensive behavioral weight intervention for parent-adolescent dyads. Given the well-established importance of parents in the development of an adolescent’s health behavior, this study focused on how parental behavior impacts adolescent outcomes following a behavioral weight loss intervention. Using bivariate regression analyses, we investigated potential pairwise associations between baseline parent variables (i.e., diet quality, disordered eating, energy intake, and weight control strategies prior to intervention) and adolescent outcomes (i.e., BMI change, change in diet quality, and change in energy intake after four months of treatment). Parent baseline energy intake was associated with changes in adolescent energy intake. Parent baseline diet quality intake was associated with changes in adolescent diet quality. Parent baseline energy intake, diet quality, disordered eating pathology, and weight control strategies did not yield statistically significant associations with adolescent BMI outcomes. It is important, however, to investigate these associations with a larger sample size. Dyadic data analyses were also conducted to investigate the interdependent relationship between parent and adolescent baseline and outcome variables. These results suggest that greater parent calorie intake and lower parent diet quality at baseline are associated with greater change during treatment. In other words, families with greater calorie intake and lower dietary quality have more room for behavior change during treatment and may respond more positively to treatment as a result. Future research should further investigate these associations, as a firm understanding of the association between parent baseline variables and adolescent treatment outcomes could lend way to personalization of pediatric obesity treatment.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
5-5-2025