Differences in the development of underweight and overweight children and their parents\u27 perceptions of their socioemotional development.

The purpose of this thesis is to expand the current research and literature pertaining to the socioemotional development of children who are underweight and overweight during their early childhood years. Existing research on the effects of socioemotional development of underweight and overweight in early childhood is presented. In addition, comparisons between parental ratings of socioemotional development will be compared for overweight, underweight, and typically weighted children utilizing the Early Head Start data set. Results indicate, caregivers of underweight children reported more depressive symptoms and reported more negative behaviors for their children than parents of overweight or typical weighted children. Implications and future research are discussed