Associations among retrospective parenting styles, retrospective food parenting, and current eating behaviors in Chinese adults
Abstract
The current study explored the relationships between retrospective parenting styles and food parenting in childhood (≤ 12 years old) and Chinese adults’ current maladaptive and adaptive eating behaviors. We recruited 501 Chinese adults (50.30% men, aged 19–46 years). A set of questionnaires were used to measure retrospective parenting styles (i.e., emotional warmth, rejection, and overprotection), food parenting (i.e., parental concern, monitoring, pressure to eat, and restriction), and current maladaptive (i.e., disordered eating) and adaptive (i.e., intuitive eating) eating behaviors. Correlation and mediation analyses were employed to analyze these data. Results revealed that retrospective parenting styles and food parenting were significantly related to current maladaptive and adaptive eating behaviors in both Chinese men and women. Mediation analyses showed that higher retrospective parental warmth was related to higher retrospective parental concern which, in turn, was related to higher current disordered eating in men (indirect effect = 0.14, 95% CI 0.08, 0.24). Furthermore, higher retrospective parental overprotection was related to higher retrospective parental pressure to eat which, in turn, was related to higher current disordered eating in men (indirect effect = 0.06, 95% CI 0.01, 0.14). For women, higher retrospective parental warmth was associated with higher retrospective parental concern which, in turn, was associated with lower current intuitive eating in women (indirect effect = −0.04, 95% CI = −0.10, −0.01). Furthermore, higher retrospective parental overprotection was associated with higher retrospective parental concern which, in turn, was associated with lower current intuitive eating in women (indirect effect = −0.03, 95% CI = −0.08, −0.004). The findings indicate the importance of including childhood parenting styles and food parenting in future research and intervention of adults’ current maladaptive and adaptive eating behaviors.
LIU Yutian
Current Undergraduate Advisee in Applied Psychology
CUI Tianxiang
PhD Student in Psychology
My research interests include body image, eating behaviors, quantitative methods in psychology, and music psychology.
WANG Qingyang
Current Undergraduate Advisee in Marketing and Communication
My research interests include Consumer behavior, Eating consumption and health decision-making, Sustainable behavior and Consumer well-being.
YU Yiman
Undergraduate Student in Applied Psychology
HE Jinbo
Assistant Professor in Applied Psychology
My research interests include the mental health of children and adolescents, obesity, eating behaviors, eating disorders, body image, and various advanced quantitative research methods (e.g., structural equation modeling, latent growth curve modeling, finite mixture modeling, meta-analysis).