Research Article

Maternal Behaviors during Pregnancy Impact Offspring Obesity Risk

Table 2

Significant, unadjusted correlations between prenatal variables and WFA z-scores in offspring of overweight/obese mothers.

Maternal variablesOffspring WFA zOffspring WFA z-scores
scores at birthat 6 months

Early in pregnancy
 % kcal from proteinns−0.31, P   =  0.001
 % kcal sweets0.19, P = 0.010.36, P  =  0.0001
 Dietary restraintns−0.22, P  =  0.02
 Disinhibition0.17, P =  0.03ns
 Perceived stress0.18, P = 0.020.18, P =  0.05
 Fast food consumptionns0.21, P = 0.03
During pregnancy
 Increases in dietary restraint−0.17, P = 0.004ns
 Increases in stressns−0.21, P = 0.03
 Increases in % kcal from carbohydrates0.18, P = 0.03ns
 Increases in % kcal from fat−0.22, P =  .007ns
 Increases in % kcal from proteinns0.23, P  =  .01

Ns: non-significant, P ≥ .05;
WFA: weight for age.