Elsevier

Journal of Psychosomatic Research

Volume 100, September 2017, Pages 61-64
Journal of Psychosomatic Research

Short communication
Does high optimism protect against the inter-generational transmission of high BMI? The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2017.07.006Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Optimism was associated with long-term protective effects on BMI in women but not men.

  • Optimism protected against the intergenerational transmission of high BMI in women but not men.

  • Optimism predicted reduced future obesity in women but not men.

Abstract

Objective

The transmission of overweight from one generation to the next is well established, however little is known about what psychosocial factors may protect against this familial risk. The aim of this study was to examine whether optimism plays a role in the intergenerational transmission of obesity.

Methods

Our sample included 1043 participants from the prospective Cardiovascular Risk in Young FINNS Study. Optimism was measured in early adulthood (2001) when the cohort was aged 24–39 years. BMI was measured in 2001 (baseline) and 2012 when they were aged 35–50 years. Parental BMI was measured in 1980. Hierarchical linear regression and logistic regression were used to examine the association between optimism and future BMI/obesity, and whether an interaction existed between optimism and parental BMI when predicting BMI/obesity 11 years later.

Results

High optimism in young adulthood demonstrated a negative relationship with high BMI in mid-adulthood, but only in women (β =  0.127, p = 0.001). The optimism × maternal BMI interaction term was a significant predictor of future BMI in women (β =  0.588, p = 0.036). The logistic regression results confirmed that high optimism predicted reduced obesity in women (OR = 0.68, 95% CI, 0.55–0.86), however the optimism × maternal obesity interaction term was not a significant predictor (OR = 0.50, 95% CI, 0.10–2.48).

Conclusions

Our findings supported our hypothesis that high optimism mitigated the intergenerational transmission of high BMI, but only in women. These findings also provided evidence that positive psychosocial factors such as optimism are associated with long-term protective effects on BMI in women.

Introduction

Parental overweight and obesity are well-known risk factors for offspring obesity, yet few studies have examined protective psychosocial factors that may mitigate the spread of obesity from one generation to the next. Psychosocial factors which are likely implicated in the intergenerational transmission of overweight include childhood socioeconomic status (SES), depression, psychosocial stress, and social support [1], [2], [3], [4]. Another protective psychosocial factor, which may play a similar role, is optimism, generally defined as having a positive outlook about the future [5].

Optimism has shown to positively associate with a healthy diet and a low body mass index (BMI) in a population-based study of young adults [6], and with healthy behaviours including increased physical activity and eating a healthier diet in elderly men [7]. Another study found that in a cohort of middle-aged adults, optimism was associated with a healthier lipid profile, mediated partly by health behaviours such as diet as well as BMI [8]. Despite emerging research assessing the impact of optimism on BMI and weight gain, research examining optimism in the context of the intergenerational transmission of obesity is lacking.

Boehm and Kubzansky [9] recently developed a model to explain the association between positive psychological factors (including optimism) and physical health. The model suggests that the association between positive psychological wellbeing and cardiovascular disease is mediated by restorative processes, which help to buffer against ill health (e.g. eating a healthy diet), as well as by the absence of deteriorative processes that negatively affect health (e.g. smoking). These restorative and deteriorative processes include health behaviours as well as biological functions (e.g. inflammation or cholesterol).

In line with this model, we wanted to explore whether optimism buffers against the familial transmission of high BMI. Using data from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (Young Finns Study), a prospective study design initiated 37 years ago; we examined whether: [1] optimism in young adulthood predicts BMI in mid-adulthood, and [2] optimism interacts with parental BMI to mitigate the intergenerational transmission of high BMI.

Section snippets

Methods

The Young Finns Study is a prospective cohort study initiated in 1980 to examine cardiovascular risk factors in a randomly selected cohort of 3596 Finnish children aged 3–18 years old (see Raitakari et al.) [10]. The current study included an analytic sample of 1043 participants with no missing data on key variables: parental BMI, parental socioeconomic status, BMI in adulthood, and optimism in adulthood. Participants provided written informed consent and the study was approved by the ethics

Results

Attrition analyses showed that participants in the analytic sample had higher optimism (p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.18) as well as lower adulthood BMI (p = 0.013, Cohen's d = 0.11) and baseline BMI measured in 2001 (p = 0.003, Cohen's d = 0.12), compared to participants from the broader sample. There were no differences in maternal BMI (p = 0.265, Cohen's d = 0.04) or paternal BMI (p = 0.997, Cohen's d = 0.00). The parents from the analytic sample were also more likely to have a higher SES (p < 0.001).

Out of the 1043

Discussion

To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate the protective effects of high optimism in the intergenerational transmission of high BMI, thereby also adding to the literature on positive psychological factors and health outcomes [9]. Another novel finding was that optimism was related to change in BMI over time, with the supplementary analysis (where we adjusted for baseline BMI) suggesting that high optimism is driving low BMI. Both of these findings were only significant in women.

Funding sources

The Young Finns Study has been financially supported by the Academy of Finland: grants 286284, 134309 (Eye), 126925, 121584, 124282, 129378 (Salve), 117787 (Gendi), and 41071 (Skidi); the Social Insurance Institution of Finland; Competitive State Research Financing of the Expert Responsibility area of Kuopio, Tampere and Turku University Hospitals (grant X51001); Juho Vainio Foundation; Paavo Nurmi Foundation; Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research; Finnish Cultural Foundation; Tampere

Conflict of interest

The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose. The authors have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose.

Acknowledgements

We greatly acknowledge Irina Lisinen, Johanna Ikonen and Ville Aalto for assistance in managing the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns dataset.

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