Cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating and emotional eating: correlations between parent and adolescent

The purpose of this study was to examine, in a general population, the resemblance in eating behaviour between adolescents and their parents. This study was based on the first examination of a community-based epidemiological study in Northern France. Subjects were offspring aged 14-22 years (135 boys and 125 girls) and their parents (174 fathers and 205 mothers). The Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire Revised 18-item version (TFEQ-R18) identified three aspects of eating behaviour: cognitive restraint of eating, uncontrolled eating and emotional eating. Familial resemblance in eating behaviour was measured by partial Spearman's correlations, adjusted for age and body mass index. Sons' uncontrolled eating was positively related to fathers' cognitive restraint of eating (r = 0.36), but not to fathers' uncontrolled eating (r = 0.07), nor to mothers' eating behaviour. Sons' cognitive restraint of eating was related to no parental eating behaviour scores. In daughters, cognitive restraint of eating was positively related to mothers' uncontrolled eating (r = 0.26), but not to mothers' cognitive restraint of eating (r = 0.13). Daughters' uncontrolled eating and emotional eating were positively associated with the same scores in mothers. Finally, daughters' eating behaviour was not related to fathers' eating behaviour. In conclusion, correlations in eating behaviour were higher with the parent of the same gender, and eating behaviours in adolescents seem to reflect opposition to parents' behaviour more than familial resemblance.