Mothers' experiences of their own parents' food parenting practices and use of coercive food-related practices with their children

Chloe Patel; Emma Shuttlewood; Eleni Karasouli; Caroline Meyer

doi:10.1016/j.appet.2022.106078

Mothers' experiences of their own parents' food parenting practices and use of coercive food-related practices with their children

Appetite. 2022 Aug 1:175:106078. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2022.106078. Epub 2022 May 6.

Authors

Chloe Patel¹, Emma Shuttlewood², Eleni Karasouli³, Caroline Meyer⁴

Affiliations

¹ Behaviour and Wellbeing Science, WMG, University of Warwick, UK. Electronic address: c.patel.2@warwick.ac.uk.
² Weight Management Services, Specialist Surgery, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry, UK. Electronic address: Emma.Shuttlewood@uhcw.nhs.uk.
³ Warwick Clinical Trials Unit, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, UK. Electronic address: e.karasouli@warwick.ac.uk.
⁴ Behaviour and Wellbeing Science, WMG, University of Warwick, UK; Weight Management Services, Specialist Surgery, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry, UK; Warwick Clinical Trials Unit, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, UK. Electronic address: c.meyer@warwick.ac.uk.

PMID: 35533790
DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2022.106078

Abstract

The current research examines the relationships between mothers' experiences of the ways in which they were provided food as a child, their current eating behaviours, and their use of coercive food parenting practices with their own child. Mothers (N = 907 (M = 37 years, SD = 7.7)) completed an online/paper survey that included validated measures of food parenting practices and eating behaviours. Regression analyses show that mothers' experiences of being provided food as a child, and their current eating behaviours are significant unique predictors of engagment in coercive food-related parenting practices with their child. Exploratory mediation analyses further show that the relationship between mothers' experiences of being provided food as a child and use of coercive food-related parenting practices with their child is partially mediated by mothers' eating behaviours. The findings indicate concordance between mothers' experiences of being provided food as a child and use of the same coercive food-related parenting practices with their child. Furthermore, maternal experiences of food-related parenting practices as a child are the strongest predictors of use coercive food parenting practices with their own child. There may be value in focussing on the food-related experiences mothers had as a child in addition to their existing eating behaviours prior to food-related parenting practice intervention. Longitudinal research is needed to strengthen the current findings and to further understand the links identified.

Keywords: Childhood eating and feeding disorders; Eating behaviour; Eating disorders; Food parenting practices.