Advisory Committee Chair
Marti Rice
Advisory Committee Members
Duck-Hee Kang
John Lochman
Bonnie Spear
Michael Weaver
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
2008
Degree Name by School
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) School of Nursing
Abstract
Overweight and obesity in school-aged children have become a major health issue. With overweight and obesity, children have increased risk of developing elevated blood pressure readings, glucose levels, and cortisol. Trait anger and patterns of anger expression have been shown to contribute to the elevations of blood pressure, glucose and cortisol in normoweight children and overweight adolescents. However, little research has been done with overweight school-aged children. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among trait anger and each of the patterns of anger expression (anger-suppression, anger-out, and anger-reflection/control) and blood pressure, glucose, and cortisol in overweight children who were 9-, 10-, and 11-years old. A convenience sample of 93 (50 females, 43 males; 75.3% Black, 21.5% White, and 3.3% Other) 9-, 10-, and 11-year-old overweight children with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of ≥ the 85th percentile according to the sex specific growth charts of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were enrolled from a southeastern city. Participants completed Trait Anger and Patterns of Anger Expression instruments and had blood pressure, glucose and cortisol measured. Twenty nine percent of the participants had systolic blood pressure readings at or above the 90th percentile for age, gender, and height. Thirty three percent of the participants had cortisol levels below the normal range; no participants had elevated iii cortisol levels. All participants had glucose levels within the normal range for 2-hour post-prandial. Trait anger and patterns of anger expression did not influence blood pressure, cortisol, or glucose in this sample of overweight 9-, 10-, and 11-year-old children. Trait anger and cortisol were related in females but not males. Since trait anger and patterns of anger expression have influenced blood pressure, glucose and cortisol in overweight adolescents further investigation is warranted to determine when these influences appear. Further, the research may also need to determine gender-specific influences.
Recommended Citation
Nichols, Kimberly, "Relationships Among Anger, Patterns Of Anger Expression And Blood Pressure, Glucose, And Cortisol In Overweight School-Aged Children" (2008). All ETDs from UAB. 3773.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/3773