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The relationship between maternal alexithymia and cognitive flexibility, children's emotional eating, and childhood

Pınar Aydoğan Avşar1, Duygu Çalişkan2, Merve Türkegün Şengül3

  • 1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Alanya Training and Education Hospital, Antalya, 07425, Turkey.

Appetite
|August 8, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Maternal alexithymia and emotional eating are linked to childhood obesity. Early interventions should assess mothers and families for better pediatric obesity management.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Endocrinology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Clinical Psychology

Background:

  • Childhood obesity is a significant global health issue requiring effective interventions.
  • Understanding contributing factors beyond diet and exercise is crucial for comprehensive management.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the relationship between childhood obesity and maternal alexithymia (difficulty identifying and describing emotions).
  • To investigate the role of maternal cognitive flexibility in childhood obesity.
  • To assess emotional eating in children with obesity.

Main Methods:

  • A cross-sectional, case-control study involving 100 mother-child dyads.
  • Mothers completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and Cognitive Flexibility Inventory (CFI).
  • Children completed the Emotional Eating Scale-Children (EES-C); clinical and sociodemographic data were collected.

Main Results:

  • Children with obesity showed higher emotional eating and mothers had higher alexithymia and lower cognitive flexibility.
  • Maternal alexithymia was significantly associated with childhood obesity.
  • Childhood obesity, maternal alexithymia, and irregular sleep patterns in children were interconnected.

Conclusions:

  • Elevated maternal alexithymia may be a contributing factor to childhood obesity.
  • Interventions for pediatric obesity should consider evaluating mothers and family dynamics.
  • Targeting maternal emotional processing may offer new avenues for childhood obesity prevention and treatment.
Abstract

Keywords:
childhood obesitycognitive flexibilityemotional eatingmaternal alexithymiaparenting styles

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