Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access originally published online on January 31, 2008
Journal of Pediatric Psychology 2008 33(7):772-782; doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsn002
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This article appears in the following Journal of Pediatric Psychology issue: Series on Methodology Article [View the issue table of contents]
Associations Among the Perceived Parent–Child Relationship, Eating Behavior, and Body Weight in Preadolescents: Results from a Community-based Sample
1Asklepios Clinic Harburg, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Institute for Sex Research and Forensic Psychiatry, 3University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychosomatics, and 4University of Duisburg-Essen, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Melanie Schuetzmann (née Schacht), Asklepios Clinic Harburg, Eissendorfer Pferdeweg 52, 21075 Hamburg, Germany. E-mail: m.schuetzmann{at}asklepios.com
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Abstract |
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Objective Data on associations between the parent–child relationship, eating behavior, and body weight in a community-based sample of preadolescent children are presented. The aim of our study was to replicate the finding from clinical samples that families of overweight children demonstrate adverse characteristics of the parent–child relationship. Methods A community-based sample of 373 fourth-grade students was given self-report questionnaires on the perceived parent–child relationship and on eating behavior, and each child's height and weight was measured. Results No meaningful associations between children's body weight and the parent–child relationship were apparent. Deviant eating behavior was strongly linked to an adverse parent–child relationship irrespective of children's body weight. Conclusions It is suggested that previous findings from clinical samples of overweight children cannot simply be generalized to the population of overweight children and that deviant eating behavior, not overweight itself, is linked to an adverse parent–child relationship in preadolescent children.
Key words: childhood obesity; eating behaviour; overweight; parent–child relationship; rearing behaviour.
Received March 30, 2007; revision received January 6, 2008; accepted January 7, 2008