Samuel Chng
University of Exeter, UK
Title: The parents’ role in the development of disordered eating
Biography
Biography: Samuel Chng
Abstract
Parents are one of the most salient sociocultural influence towards the development of disordered eating, such as restrained and affect-regulatory eating, and dieting behaviour. The active influence perspective suggests that this is due to the communication and interactions between parent and child. Findings from two studies that explored the role of parental influence on eating behaviours will be presented. The first study looked at how comments regarding body shape, weight, and eating behaviors by parents are related to the occurrence of body dissatisfaction and restrained and affect-regulatory eating in young adults in Singapore. Negative comments by mothers were found to consistently predict restrained and affect-regulatory eating for both sons and daughters. The second study explores the relationship between the appraisals of parental support and dieting attempts in adolescents in the UK. Postiive appraisals of parental support were not found to predict dieting attempts by girls but, interestingly, was found to predict a higher odds of dieting attempts by boys. Collectively, findings from both studies suggest that parents play an important role in the development of disordered eating but these relationships might vary cross-culturally. Future interventions of health and eating behaviours should consider the role parents can potentially play to improve the efficacy of treatment.