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Cognitive and affective factors linking mothers’ perceived weight history to child feeding

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 72, pages 1583–1591 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/objectives

To explore whether mothers’ lifetime experiences with their own weight status and related cognitive and affective factors influence child feeding behavior.

Subjects/methods

Overweight mothers (N = 221) of 4–5 year olds recalled their weight at four time points, and were grouped into weight history trajectories: recently overweight, always overweight, and steady-gain-obese. Objective food choice behavior was assessed in a virtual reality buffet and subjective food restriction for the index child was assessed using a psychometric measure.

Results

Mothers’ observed food choice was not associated with weight trajectory, but mothers who spent more time being overweight and who weighed more at present were more restrictive of their child’s eating. Mothers’ concern about child weight increased with more time spent being overweight. Concern for child weight and mothers’ body guilt differentially mediated the relationships between weight trajectories and perceived feeding restriction.

Conclusions

Considering mothers’ lifetime weight experiences may suggest that parental influences on child feeding are amenable to intervention that would otherwise be obscured by static weight measures.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health. This work was based on data collected in the Immersive Virtual Environment Testing Area of the Social and Behavioral Research Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health. The authors thank Kayley French, Shira Levy, Augustina Pandiani, and Emi Watanabe for assistance with data collection and preparation. This research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health. Clinical trial registry: NCT01087346.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Sofia Bouhlal

    Present address: NIH/NIAAA DICBR and NIDA IRP, Bethesda, MD, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Social and Behavioral Research Branch, NIH/NHGRI, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Sofia Bouhlal & Susan Persky

  2. University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Leah R Abrams

  3. Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Colleen M McBride

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  1. Sofia Bouhlal
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  4. Susan Persky
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susan Persky.

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Bouhlal, S., Abrams, L.R., McBride, C.M. et al. Cognitive and affective factors linking mothers’ perceived weight history to child feeding. Eur J Clin Nutr 72, 1583–1591 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-017-0071-0

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