Maternal Predictors of Body Mass Index of pre-school and school age children

The objective was to identify maternal variables that could be used as predictors of the child's body mass index (BMI). We considered the following variables: a) socio-demographic (age, education, occupation, marital status and family income); b) anthropometric (BMI); and c) upbringing strategies (monitoring and limits for eating habits, monitoring and sedentary behavior limits, discipline and control in feeding. A predictive correlational study was carried out with 537 dyads (motherchild). Children enrolled in 4 public schools (2 for pre-school children and 2 for primary school children) were selected for probabilistic, random sampling. The mothers answered the Feeding and Activity Upbringing Strategies Scale, giving socio-demographic information and the dyads' weight and height was measured. The data were analyzed for correlations and path analysis. It was found that the average age of mothers was 34.25 years (SD=6.91), with 12.40 years of education (SD=3.36), 53.3% mentioned that they were housewives and 46.7% had a paid job outside of the home; 38.5% showed pre-OB and 27.3% some degree of OB. The child's average age was 7.26 years (SD=2.46), and 3.2% showed low weight, 59.6% normal weight and 37.2% OW-OB. It was found that working outside the home, having a higher maternal BMI, less control and more discipline in feeding are variables that predict higher BMI in the child. We recommend the design of interventions to reduce and treat the child's OW-OB taking into account the predictors that were found.