Effects of diet plus exercise on weight change in parents and children

Obese children (aged 8-12 yrs) and parents from 53 families were randomly assigned to 3 groups: diet, diet plus exercise, and no-treatment control. At 6 mo, parents and children in both treatment groups had equal and significantly better weight change than members of the control group. At 1 yr, however, parents given diet plus exercise showed better weight losses than parents given diet alone. No treatment group differences were found for children after 1 yr. Parent and child weight changes observed during the 1st 6 mo of treatment were highly correlated, but those observed during Months 6-22 were uncorrelated. Discriminant analyses showed that initial relative weight was the best predictor of 12-mo relative weight for both parents and children but that exposure to the exercise program during treatment was a predictor of maintenance of nonobesity. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).