Abstract
Insufficient physical activity (PA) and excessive stationary behavior (SB) are contributors to pediatric obesity, though antecedents and consequences of these behaviors in this population are relatively unknown. This pilot study examined affect, loss of control eating (LOCE), overeating, and hunger surrounding PA and SB in 17 youth with overweight/obesity. Participants completed a 14-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) wearing accelerometers. At the momentary level, higher negative affect and lower positive affect predicted SB increases and PA decreases following EMA prompts; higher PA and lower SB also predicted increases in positive affect. Higher LOCE predicted SB increases and PA decreases, while increases in PA and decreases in SB predicted short-term increases in LOCE and overeating. At the individual level, higher SB and lower PA were related to lower positive affect and higher negative affect, LOCE, overeating, and hunger. Findings suggest affect is a relevant antecedent and consequence of PA/SB, and dysregulated eating may acutely impact PA/SB.
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Notes
Activity time variables were aggregated within person prior to conducting correlation analyses.
References
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This research was funded by Grants from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1-TR000430) and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (K23-DK105234).
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All authors contributed to the conceptualization of the research questions and hypotheses in the present manuscript. Material preparation, data collection, and funding acquisition were performed by AG and AH-M. Analyses were conducted by KS, TM, C-HY, and SW. The first draft of the manuscript was written by KS, and all authors provided critical feedback on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Smith, K.E., Haedt-Matt, A., Mason, T.B. et al. Associations between naturalistically assessed physical activity patterns, affect, and eating in youth with overweight and obesity. J Behav Med 43, 916–931 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-020-00152-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-020-00152-3