# Defining behaviors and the stress response among positive deviants for childhood obesity

> **NIH NIH R03** · OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $115,500

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
This R03 award seeks to identify existing successful strategies to address childhood obesity in low
socioeconomic status populations. A small proportion (10-15%) of children with obesity in early childhood
achieve a healthy weight by adolescence. The goal of the overall project is to identify what behaviors these
children and their families, termed positive deviants, have implemented that has been effective. By learning
from what is already working among communities at high risk of continued obesity, interventions can be
adapted to be more relevant and effective for families of children with obesity. The paucity of interventions
shown to be effective for low socioeconomic status families and the increasing disparities in obesity for this
population underscore the need to identify effective strategies.
Aim 1 will use existing medical record data to examine weight trajectories from pre-adolescent, school aged
children and categorize children into those who have a negative BMI slope towards a healthy weight (positive
deviants) and children with a flat or increasing BMI slope (controls). Families are recruited to participate in a
case-control study using mixed methods to define the skills and behaviors used to address their child's weight.
In aim 2, we examine the biologic response to stress using cortisol, interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein,
comparing positive deviants and controls to test the hypothesis that positive deviants, despite experiencing
similar stressors, have a different biologic response to stress than controls. The completion of these aims will
directly inform the design of an obesity-focused clinical trial testing the effectiveness of positive deviance-
derived strategies paired with interventions designed to mitigate stress using biologic markers to personalize
interventions.
The project will occur in an exceptional research environment for using the resources of the Oregon Clinical
and Translational Research Institute (OCTRI) to assist with data abstraction from a large medical record to
generate the dataset. Dr. Foster (PI) has recently completed a similar project during his K23 award, with this
project designed to build on the lessons learned during the K23 and strategically expand as a step towards an
R01 application for testing the effectiveness of interventions designed using this approach.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10056118
- **Project number:** 1R03DK122011-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Byron A Foster
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $115,500
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-07-15 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10056118

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10056118, Defining behaviors and the stress response among positive deviants for childhood obesity (1R03DK122011-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10056118. Licensed CC0.

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