Parenting and schema domains as predictors of intuitive and dysregulated eating in emerging adults

Emerging adulthood is a period when enduring eating patterns consolidate and guide daily food choices. This cross-sectional study examined whether perceived parenting and early maladaptive schema (EMS) domains were associated with intuitive eating, cognitive restraint, emotional eating, and uncontrolled eating among Turkish emerging adults (N = 446). Participants completed validated measures of intuitive and dysregulated eating, maternal/paternal warmth, overprotection, rejection, and five EMS domains. Hierarchical regressions entered demographics and lifestyle factors (Step 1), parenting (Step 2), and EMS domains (Step 3). Exploratory mediation models tested indirect pathways from parenting to eating through EMS domains while adjusting for the same covariates. Men reported higher intuitive eating, whereas women reported greater restraint and emotional eating. Dieting history, higher body mass index, and weight dissatisfaction were consistently associated with lower intuitive eating and higher dysregulated patterns. Parenting contributed modestly to model fit, whereas EMS domains accounted for additional, larger variance. Mediation analyses indicated three indirect pathways: higher maternal warmth related to lower Impaired Autonomy/Performance (IAP), which was associated with higher intuitive eating; higher maternal rejection related to higher IAP, which was associated with greater emotional eating; and higher maternal overprotection related to higher IAP and Other-Directedness, which were associated with greater uncontrolled eating. In final models, maternal warmth related positively to intuitive eating, while IAP-and for uncontrolled eating, Other-Directedness-showed robust links with dysregulated eating. Findings support a layered pattern of associations in which caregiving climates and enduring schemas make separable contributions to appetite-related regulation.