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The ANOBAS project was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Plan Nacional I+D+i 2008/11 (PSI2011-23127/PSI2016-79471-R).

Analysis of institutional authors

Rojo, MAuthorBlanco, MAuthorGraell, MAuthorSepúlveda, ArCorresponding Author

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Article

Linking Psychosocial Stress Events, Psychological Disorders and Childhood Obesity

Publicated to:Children (Basel). 8 (3): 211- - 2021-03-01 8(3), DOI: 10.3390/children8030211

Authors: Rojo, Marta; Solano, Santos; Lacruz, Tatiana; Baile, Jose I; Blanco, Miriam; Graell, Montserrat; Sepulveda, Ana Rosa

Affiliations

Autonomous Univ Madrid, Sch Psychol, Dept Biol & Hlth Psychol, Madrid 28049, Spain - Author
Ctr Invest Biomed Red Salud Mental CIBERSAM, Madrid 28029, Spain - Author
Hosp Infantil Univ Nino Jesus, Dept Child & Adolescent Psychiat & Clin Psychol, Madrid 28009, Spain - Author
Open Univ Madrid, Fac Hlth Sci & Educ, Dept Hlth & Psychol, Collado Villalba 28400, Spain - Author

Abstract

There is scientific evidence that supports a strong association between early exposure to stressful life events and the presence of health complications throughout adulthood and, to a lesser extent, in adolescence and childhood. The aim of this study was to examine the accumulation of Psychosocial Stress Events (PSE) and the prevalence of mental disorders in children from 8 to 12 years. The association between these factors and child weight measurements was analysed. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 children classified by weight status (obesity, overweight and normal-weight). The assessment was carried out in primary care centres and primary schools. An experienced team carried out a structured medical-psychosocial history and a semi-structured interview aimed at identifying an early diagnosis of psychological disorders. Children filled out a questionnaire to evaluate PSE. The obesity group presented the greatest accumulation of PSE and highest prevalence of psychiatric diagnosis, compared to overweight and normal-weight children. To exceed four or more stressful events was positively associated with psychological problems and child body mass index (BMI z-score). A predictive model confirmed the interaction between a larger number of PSE and the occurrence of a psychiatric diagnosis as variables that predispose children by 26.2 times more to increased weight status. In conclusion, the accumulation of PSE in the family, school and social environments of the children was related to greater psychological distress. If not managed, the likelihood of suffering from other health complications, such as excess weight, may increase. It is important to monitor these variables to ensure positive health outcomes while specifically addressing childhood obesity. This is especially relevant for children from a disadvantaged social background and disharmonious family environments.

Keywords

childhood obesitymental healthpsychosocial stress eventsArticleBody massBody weightChildChildhood obesityControlled studyCross-sectional studyDisease associationDisease predispositionEarly diagnosisFemaleHumanMajor clinical studyMaleMedical historyMental diseaseMental healthMental stressPredictive modelPrevalencePrimary medical carePrimary schoolPsychiatric diagnosisPsychosocial stress eventsSchool childSemi structured interviewSocial psychologyWeight status

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Children (Basel) due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2021, it was in position 59/130, thus managing to position itself as a Q2 (Segundo Cuartil), in the category Pediatrics. Notably, the journal is positioned en el Cuartil Q2 para la agencia Scopus (SJR) en la categoría Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 2.29. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 3.14 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 4.09 (source consulted: Dimensions Jun 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-06-28, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 11
  • Scopus: 16
  • Europe PMC: 8

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-06-28:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 50.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 50 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 0.25.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: https://repositorio.uam.es/handle/10486/698982

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (ROJO HIDALGO, MARTA) and Last Author (SEPULVEDA GARCIA, ANA ROSA).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been SEPULVEDA GARCIA, ANA ROSA.