Coparenting-focused preventive intervention reduces postnatal maternal BMI and buffers impact of cortisol

Lisa J Moran, Jin-Kyung Lee, Damon Jones, Kaitlin Fronberg, Mark E Feinberg, Lisa J Moran, Jin-Kyung Lee, Damon Jones, Kaitlin Fronberg, Mark E Feinberg

Abstract

Objective: The postpartum period is a key life stage, contributing to increased maternal obesity risk. Current lifestyle interventions do not consider the role of a woman's partner in reducing stress and supporting lifestyle change. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of an intervention that seeks to enhance coparenting relationship quality on maternal BMI from before conception to 12 months post partum and whether the intervention moderated the association of changes in cortisol and BMI.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial was used to assess an intervention (eight classes: four during and four following pregnancy) focusing on enhancing couple coparenting relationships during pregnancy and post partum (n = 57) compared with standard care (n = 53).

Results: The main outcome measures were changes in maternal BMI and cortisol. There was a smaller increase in BMI for mothers in intervention compared with control groups (mean [SE], -1.03 [0.42] kg/m2 , p = 0.015). There was an interaction between intervention status and cortisol change predicting BMI change (p = 0.026), such that cortisol change significantly predicted BMI change among mothers in the control (p = 0.049) but not the intervention groups (p = 0.204).

Conclusions: A coparenting intervention improved maternal postpartum BMI, with this effect potentially related to ameliorating the negative effect of stress, as measured by cortisol, on BMI. The role of enhanced coparenting in improving maternal anthropometry warrants urgent attention.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01901536.

Conflict of interest statement

Mark E. Feinberg created the Family Foundations program and is the owner of a private company, Family Gold, which disseminates the Family Foundations program. His financial interest has been reviewed by the Institutional Review Board and the Conflict of Interest Committee at The Pennsylvania State University. The remaining authors indicated no conflict of interest.

© 2022 The Authors. Obesity published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Obesity Society (TOS).

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Interaction plot between maternal cortisol change, maternal BMI change, and intervention status. Data are presented as mean and SD and were analyzed using simple slope analysis. The light gray solid line indicates significant slope (p = 0.049) between mothers' cortisol change and BMI change for the control group, whereas the dark gray dotted line indicates nonsignificant slope (p = 0.204) for the intervention group.

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