By any measure, mother-child bonding is an ideal worth striving for, but new research underscores its importance, finding that young children who aren’t securely attached may have a GREater risk of being obese before they even start kindergarten.

　　Researchers at Ohio State University crunched data from 6,650 U.S. children born in 2001 who were evaluated at age 2 and again at 4 ½ years. When the children were 24 months old, researchers spent two hours observing them interACT at home with their mothers. Among the 45 behaviors evaluated: could upset children be comforted through contACT with their mothers? Did the children seek out hugs and physical touch from their mothers?

　　The children who scored the lowest at 24 months were deemed “insecurely attached”; when researchers calculated their body-mass index, they found the insecurely attached children were 30% more likely to be obese by age 4 ½, according to the study. Researchers controlled for a host of other fACTors, including eating habits and maternal health, but nothing else could account for the significant link between emotional security and weight.

　　The findings indicate that it may be time to expand our understanding of the causes of childhood obesity: being an overweight kid may be about far more than portion size and healthy food. Other research has shown that stress and an exaggerated stress response can disrupt the body’s ability to regulate body weight. Considering that children’s ability to regulate their emotions and respond to stress is formed early in childhood based on their interACTions with their caregivers, scientists hypothesized that children who are insecurely attached are at higher risk for obesity.

　　“The same areas of the brain regulate stress response and appetite control, so if a child is stressed because he’s not being attended to, it’s more likely he will be obese later on and will also use food as a way to respond to stress,” says Sarah Anderson, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Ohio State University and the study’s lead author.

　　A securely attached child feels confident that her caregiver will respond quickly, allowing her to explore and seek out new experiences. Insecurely attached kids, on the other hand, may shy away from interACTion with others and respond angrily or with anxiously to stressful situations.

　　“I can say from my reading of the obesity research literature and child development literature that there are a lot of good reasons why it’s important for parents to consider how they can help their children to develop good capacities for emotional regulation,” says Anderson. “I can feel very comfortable saying that this is not harmful. And if it prevents obesity, so much the better.”

　　【词汇突破】 (标有*词汇为超纲词)

　　*bonding /5bCndIN/ n. 亲密关系的形成;代际联系(即父母与后代之间亲密关系的形成过程，常常在孩子出生时就开始，是更深的感情联系的基础，影响着孩子的生理和心理发育)

　　*underscore /7QndE5skR:(r)/ v. 强调

　　*obese /EU5bi:s/ adj. 肥胖的

　　*crunch /krQntF/ v. 处理(数字)

　　deem /di:m/ v. 认为; 视为： The event was deemed a GREat success. 大家认为该项活动很成功。

　　a host of 许多; 大量： There’s a whole host of reasons why he didn’t get the job. 有一大堆理由可以解释他为什么没有得到那份工作。

　　*maternal /mE5t\:nl/ adj. 母亲的

　　*caregiver /5keEgIvE(r)/ n. (小孩或病人的)看护者

　　hypothesize /haI5pCWEsaIz/ v. 假定; 猜测： There is no point hypothesizing about how the accident happened, since we’ll never really know. 假定事故是如何发生的没有任何意义， 因为我们永远也不会知道真实情况是怎样的。

　　*epidemiology /7ɛpɪdi:mi5ɒlədʒi/ n. 流行病学

　　【句式分析】

　　Considering that children’s ability to regulate their emotions and respond to stress is

　　原因状语

　　formed early in childhood based on their interACTions with their caregivers, scientists

　　原因状语 主语

　　hypothesized that children who are insecurely attached are at higher risk for obesity.

　　谓语 宾语从句

　　本句的主干结构为scientists hypothesized that...，谓语hypothesized之后是由that引导的宾语从句，该从句的主干为children... are at higher risk for obesity，主语children之后是由who引导的定语从句，对其进行解释说明。句首considering that...是现在分词结构作原因状语，其中that children’s ability...作动词considering的宾语从句，其主干为children’s ability...is formed...。