Brief Report: Parenting Styles and Obesity in Mexican American Children: A Longitudinal Study

Childhood obesity is a significant and growing health problem associated with multiple health disorders including metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, diseases of the bones and joints, as well as psychosocial dysfunction (Barlow, 2007). Childhood obesity rates are particularly high in low-income minority populations, including low-income Mexican Americans (Ogden et al., 2006). The increasing rates of childhood obesity appear to be the consequence of a range of factors involving families (e.g., sedentary lifestyles; high caloric meals and snacks; soft drink consumption; extensive TV and computer use; eating out; insufficient sleep), neighborhoods (e.g., limited safe places to play outdoors; pedestrian unfriendly neighborhoods), schools (e.g., high caloric school meals; reduced time in recess and physical education classes), the food industry (e.g., high caloric, prepackaged foods; larger individual portion sizes; high fruit and vegetable prices), and the larger culture (e.g., dieting and eating disorders resulting from attempts to achieve an unattainable “thinness ideal”) (Gorin & Crane, 2008; Hawkins & Law, 2006). Because parents have a significant impact on the food consumption, physical activity, and sedentary behavior of their young children, researchers have examined how general parenting styles may be associated with child obesity. Using the parenting styles first identified by Baumrind (1966), and elaborated on by Maccoby and Martin (1983), researchers have found that the authoritative parenting (high nurturance and high control) is associated with higher levels of fruit consumption (Kremers, Brug, de Vries, & Engels, 2003), physical activity (Schmitz et al., 2002), and the lowest risk for child obesity (Rhee, Lumeng, Appugliese, Kaciroti, & Bradley, 2006; Wake, Nicholson, Hardy, & Smith, 2007). These findings extend the results of numerous studies confirming the relation between authoritative parenting and positive child outcomes (see Maccoby & Martin, 1983; Mandara, 2003 for reviews). Studies differ, however, on the parenting styles associated with the highest obesity risk. Rhee and colleagues (2006) found that children of authoritarian parents (low nurturance and high control) were at the greatest risk. In contrast, Wake and colleagues (2007) found that children of indulgent (high nurturance and low control) and uninvolved (low nurturance and low control) parents showed the greatest risk. Because parents’ attitudes toward child rearing are influenced by cultural norms and contextual factors, the effects of different parenting styles often vary across ethnic groups (Roche, Ensminger, & Cherlin, 2007; Steinberg, Dornbusch, & Brown, 1992). Few studies have examined parenting styles in Latino parents, particularly related to child weight (Ward, 2008). Most studies of general parenting practices in Latino parents have focused on individual parenting dimensions (not styles) and have usually characterized them as showing high levels of parental control (Cardona, Nicholson, & Fox, 2000; Chao & Kanatsu, 2008; Hill, Bush, & Roosa, 2003; MacPhee, Fritz, & Miller-Heyl, 1996; Varela et al., 2004). Such findings are interpreted to reflect the importance of respect for authority in Latino cultures (Knight, Virdin, & Roosa, 1994). Consistent with this interpretation, Mogro-Wilson (2008) found that for Latino parents, in contrast to other populations, high levels of parental control were associated with low levels of adolescent alcohol use. The purpose of the current study was to examine in a low-income, Mexican American sample, the relations between parenting style and the development of child weight status 3 years later. Based upon previous research, we predicted that children with authoritative and authoritarian parents would be at the lowest risk for developing obesity, whereas children with indulgent or uninvolved parents would be at the highest risk. We considered that indulgent and uninvolved parenting styles would predict the development of child obesity in this population given the potentially beneficial effects of parental control in Mexican American families.