Association between infant correlates of impulsivity - surgency (extraversion) - and early infant growth

• Published in: Appetite Vol. 57; no. 2; pp. 504 - 509
• Main Authors: Burton, P., Wells, J.C.K., Kennedy, K., Nicholl, R., Khakoo, A., Fewtrell, M.S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: adults; anthropometric measurements; Appetitive system; Biological and medical sciences; Birth Weight; body composition; Body Mass Index; Body Weight; cardiovascular diseases; Child Development; childhood; Conditional weight; diabetes; Energy Intake; Extraversion (Psychology); Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; food intake; foods; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; gender; gestational age; Humans; Impulsive Behavior; infancy; Infant; Infant Behavior; Infant growth; Infant temperament; infants; Linear Models; Male; Medical sciences; Metabolic diseases; metabolic syndrome; Obesity; parturition; Pilot Projects; prediction; preschool children; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; questionnaires; regression analysis; risk; Socioeconomic Factors; Surgency/extraversion; Surveys and Questionnaires; Temperament; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Weight Gain; Surgency/extraversion; Appetitive system; Obesity; Infant growth; Conditional weight; Infant temperament; Human; Appetite; Impulsivity; Feeding behavior; Nutrition; Growth; Psychology; Nutrition disorder; Infant; Personality; Temperament; Weight; Association; Extraversion introversion; Early; Psychopathology; Nutritional status
• DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2011.07.002
• ISSN: 0195-6663

► We assessed infant growth alongside temperament measures of surgency/extraversion. ► Growth in infancy is a critical window for metabolic programming. ► Conditional weight (CW) represented deviations from expected weight gains. ► Infant surgency predicted CWs at 3 months but not at 6 or 12 months. ► Further investigation to ascertain future weight implications is warranted. Increasing evidence suggests that rapid postnatal weight gain is associated with increased risks of being overweight or obese later in life and of co-morbidities, such as diabetes, the metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. In children as young as two years of age, as well as in adults, an appetitive system-linked impulsivity trait has been demonstrated to be linked with increased overweight, and postulated to act via increased food intake, through greater responsiveness to food and lower self-inhibitory control skills. In this study, we hypothesized that growth in infancy, a critical window for metabolic programming, would be predicted by measures of infant surgency/extraversion, assessed using the Rothbart Infant Behaviour Questionnaire (revised version). Anthropometry was measured at birth and at 3, 6 and 12 months, and weight gains expressed as increases in standardized scores, allowing for adjustment for gender and age, including gestational age. We used conditional weight (CW), a residual of current weight regressed on prior weights, to represent deviations from expected weight gains, from 0 to 3, 3 to 6 and 6 to 12 months. Controlling for significant sociodemographic correlations, multiple regression analyses showed significant prediction of CWs at 3 months but not of CWs at 6 or 12 months by surgency/extraversion. These pilot findings of association between infant growth, during a critical period, and surgency/extraversion, early correlates of impulsivity, warrant further investigation, to ascertain implications for childhood and later weight and body composition.