Controlling feeding practices and psychopathology in a non-clinical sample of mothers and fathers

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Emma Haycraft1, Jackie Blissett

  • 1Department of Human Sciences, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU, UK. e.haycraft@lboro.ac.uk

Eating Behaviors
|October 22, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Parental mental health symptoms are linked to controlling feeding practices, particularly in mothers of daughters. Societal pressures on female slimness may influence these associations.

Area of Science:

  • Child development
  • Parenting styles
  • Mental health

Background:

  • Controlling feeding practices are common in child-rearing.
  • Parental mental health can influence parenting behaviors.
  • Gender dynamics may play a role in parent-child interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the link between controlling feeding practices and parental mental health symptoms.
  • To examine how parent-child gender dyads influence these relationships.
  • To explore eating psychopathology and general mental health symptomology.

Main Methods:

  • 214 mothers and fathers of children aged 18-59 months completed self-report measures.
  • Assessed child feeding practices, eating psychopathology, and general mental health.
  • Analyzed data across four parent-child gender dyads.

Main Results:

  • No differences in feeding practices were observed across gender dyads.
  • Mothers reported higher eating psychopathology than fathers.
  • Parental psychopathology was associated with controlling feeding practices, especially in parents of daughters.

Conclusions:

  • Parental psychopathology may be more strongly linked to controlling feeding practices in parents of daughters.
  • Societal emphasis on female slimness could contribute to these findings.
  • Understanding these associations is crucial for targeted interventions.
Abstract

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