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Restrained eating in overweight children: does eating style run in families?

Simone Munsch1, Kathrin Hasenboehler, Tanja Michael

  • 1Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. simone.munsch@unibas.ch

International Journal of Pediatric Obesity : IJPO : an Official Journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity
|September 1, 2007
PubMed

Insights

Overweight children

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric obesity
  • Behavioral science
  • Family studies

Background:

  • Overweight children often exhibit disordered eating patterns, including restrained eating and overeating.
  • Family environments significantly influence children's eating behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if restrained eating and overeating tendencies predict food intake in overweight children.
  • To examine associations between parents' and children's eating behaviors.
  • To determine if maternal food intake predicts children's consumption after a preload.

Main Methods:

  • 41 overweight children and their parents participated in an experimental trial involving a preload.
  • Questionnaires assessed eating behaviors in children and parents.
  • Maternal food intake was analyzed in relation to children's subsequent intake.

Main Results:

  • Restrained eating in children or mothers did not predict increased food intake post-preload.
  • Children with a tendency toward overeating consumed more food after the preload.
  • Children's food intake was significantly predicted by their mothers' food intake.

Conclusions:

  • Familial transmission of eating styles is evident, with children mirroring their primary caregivers' eating behaviors.
  • Maternal eating habits appear to influence children's food consumption, even in a controlled setting.

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