# Behavioral Phenotypes of Reward and Inhibition in Parent-Child Weight Loss

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · 2020 · $458,639

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Approximately one out of every three children and two out of every three adults have overweight or obesity. To
date, the most successful treatment for child weight loss is family-based treatment for childhood obesity (FBT),
which combines nutrition and physical activity education with behavior therapy strategies and parent
management techniques targeted to shape healthy behaviors in both the child and parent. Unfortunately, not all
children and parents respond and the majority regain most or all of their weight back. One of the challenges for
families attempting to manage their weight is the current food environment, which is replete with high calorie,
hedonic, low cost foods which make it incredibly easy to eat beyond nutritional needs. It is very possible that
weight loss programs fail because current treatments inadequately target basic cognitive mechanisms that are
inherently involved in how individuals interact with the current food environment. Overeating, or eating past
nutritional needs, is theorized to be a result of the interaction between two basic cognitive mechanisms;
physiological and psychological reward from food and the ability to inhibit impulses to overeat. We have
developed a number of food-specific cognitive assessments which target specific vulnerabilities in people who
have overweight and obesity. For this project, we propose to add assessments of reward and inhibition that
include both self-report and task-based measurements among 260 parent/child pairs participating in two R01
projects evaluating 6-month FBT programs. Assessments will be conducted at baseline, 6-, 12- and 24-month
timepoints. The primary aims of this study are 1) to determine behavioral and psychological phenotypes of
reward and inhibition at baseline in children and parents and 2) to evaluate whether these phenotypes predict
weight loss in both children and parents at 6-, 12- and 24-month timepoints. We will also compare behavioral
and psychological phenotypes of reward and inhibition between parents and children, and we will 1) evaluate
whether the interaction between child and parent phenotypes of reward and inhibition predict weight change at
6, 12- and 24-month timepoints, 2) evaluate whether parenting style interacts with child behavioral and
psychological phenotypes of reward and inhibition, and 3) explore whether the behavioral and psychological
phenotypes identified at baseline in children and parents change over time and whether these changes are
associated with weight loss in children and parents. This project will collect crucial, unique data on both reward
and inhibition aspects of cognition, in both children and parents participating in an FBT program. These data will
allow the identification of specific cognitive phenotypes in children with overweight and obesity and their
parents, and ultimately to develop targeted treatments that could be more effective with specific groups of
children and parents.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9951043
- **Project number:** 5R01DK114794-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Kerri N Boutelle
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $458,639
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9951043

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9951043, Behavioral Phenotypes of Reward and Inhibition in Parent-Child Weight Loss (5R01DK114794-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9951043. Licensed CC0.

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