Maternal influences on daughters' restrained eating behavior

Health Psychol. 2005 Nov;24(6):548-54. doi: 10.1037/0278-6133.24.6.548.

Abstract

This study examined whether mothers' preoccupation with their own weight and eating was linked to daughters' restrained eating behavior. Participants included 173 non-Hispanic, White mother-daughter dyads, measured longitudinally when daughters were ages 5, 7, 9, and 11. Mothers who were preoccupied with their own weight and eating reported higher levels of restricting daughters' intake and encouraging daughters to lose weight over time. Mothers' encouragement of daughters' weight loss was linked to daughters' restrained eating behavior; this relationship was partially mediated by daughters' perception of maternal pressure to lose weight. These findings suggest that mothers' preoccupation with weight and eating, via attempts to influence daughters' weight and eating, may place daughters at risk for developing problematic eating behaviors.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Body Mass Index
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Energy Intake
  • Family / psychology
  • Feeding Behavior*
  • Female
  • Health Behavior
  • Humans
  • Maternal Behavior / psychology*
  • Mother-Child Relations*
  • Mothers / psychology*
  • Obesity / prevention & control*
  • Social Environment*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Weight Loss*