# Preventing Childhood Obesity Through a Mindfulness-based Parent Stress Intervention

> **NIH NIH R01** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $720,630

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
 Childhood obesity is a significant public health problem that predisposes to adult obesity and serious
obesity-related diseases. Obesity is particularly common in low-income families and children of obese parents,
who also report higher levels of stress. High stress in parents is associated with decreased physical activity,
overeating, and increased weight in parents and their children. While nutrition and behavioral preventions have
been tested for low-income families, parent stress has not been targeted in highly stressed, low-income obese
parents of at-risk preschoolers. In a previous pilot R21 project, we developed a novel program, Parenting
Mindfully for Health, that targets parent stress and includes Nutrition and physical activity counseling (PMH+N),
to reduce stress, improve parenting and healthy family choices to prevent childhood obesity in 2-5-year-old
children. Findings indicated that PMH+N is feasible, acceptable, and improved parent stress and parenting to
prevent increases in child body mass index (BMI) percentile relative to the contact Control with Nutrition (C+N).
Building on promising preliminary findings, we now propose a 5-year R01 project to assess PMH+N vs. C+N in
a large sample of parent-child dyads, and including a long-term 2-year follow-up to establish enduring effects
of PMH+N on reducing parent stress, improving parenting to promote healthy eating and physical activity (PA)
in parents and children, and in turn, prevent childhood obesity risk in preschoolers from highly-stressed, low-
income families. Low-income, highly-stressed, obese parent-child dyads (N=240, children aged 2-5) will be
randomly assigned to receive a 12-week PMH+N or C+N intervention and participation in a Toy Wait
Task(TWT) challenge to assess observed parent-child interaction as a bio-behavioral measure pre/post
intervention to assess parenting and stress responses. The following specific aims will be addressed: (1) test
the efficacy of 12-week PMH+N vs. C+N in reducing parent stress and improving parenting and health
behaviors in parent and child to decrease childhood obesity risk; (2) examine parent stress response, observed
parenting, and family food intake and physical activity as mediators of PMH+N vs. C+N effects on parent and
child BMI; (3) examine the enduring effects of PMH+N vs. C+N on parenting and health behaviors and child
BMI percentile in reducing obesity risk over a 2-year follow-up period; and (4) examine the enduring effects of
changes on parent stress, parenting and health behaviors, parent weight and metabolic functioning post
intervention during 2-year follow-up. Successful completion of the proposed interdisciplinary project will provide
support for an innovative approach to decrease early childhood obesity risk in low-income, stressed families
while also addressing stress and obesity in high-risk adult parents. Findings will provide critical longitudinal
data on parent stress and family and parenting factors in the ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9986759
- **Project number:** 5R01DK117651-03
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Ania Jastreboff
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $720,630
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9986759

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9986759, Preventing Childhood Obesity Through a Mindfulness-based Parent Stress Intervention (5R01DK117651-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9986759. Licensed CC0.

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