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Does the recall of caregiver eating messages exacerbate the pathogenic impact of shame on eating and weight-related difficulties?

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Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The central role of caregiver eating messages has been recognized on later individual’s eating behaviour, body image and weight status. Additionally, shame is a painful emotion also associated with the development and maintenance of body image and eating-related difficulties. The main aim of the present study was to explore the moderator effect of the recall of caregiver eating messages on the associations between external shame, body weight and shape-related concerns, and the adoption of inflexible eating rules.

Methods

The sample comprised 479 women from the general population, aged from 18 to 60 years, who completed self-report measures.

Results

Results of the correlation analyses showed that early caregiver restrictive/critical eating messages were positively associated with external shame, inflexible eating and overvaluation of body weight and shape. Path analysis results demonstrated a moderator effect of early caregiver critical eating messages on the relationship between external shame and both weight and shape-related concerns and inflexible eating. These results revealed that caregiver restrictive/critical eating messages exacerbated the impact of shame on these psychopathological indices, with the tested model accounting for 19% and 38% of the variance of inflexible eating rules and body weight and shape concerns, respectively.

Conclusions

These findings seem to suggest important research and clinical implications, contributing to the understanding of disordered eating patterns, and appear to represent a new avenue for the development of prevention and intervention programs. Particularly, these findings support the relevance of targeting caregiver eating-related attitudes and messages in prevention interventions for eating psychopathology.

Level of evidence

Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CINEICC, Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Behavioural Intervention, Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências da Educação, Universidade de Coimbra, Rua do Colégio Novo, Apartado 6153, 3001-802, Coimbra, Portugal

    Sara Oliveira, Cláudia Pires & Cláudia Ferreira

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  1. Sara Oliveira
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  2. Cláudia Pires
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  3. Cláudia Ferreira
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Contributions

SO and CF designed the study, prepared the measures and designed the research battery. SO recruited the sample and conducted the statistical analysis. SO and CF conducted the literature research. SO and CP wrote the manuscript. Cláudia Ferreira approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sara Oliveira.

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The authors of this manuscript declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Oliveira, S., Pires, C. & Ferreira, C. Does the recall of caregiver eating messages exacerbate the pathogenic impact of shame on eating and weight-related difficulties?. Eat Weight Disord 25, 471–480 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-018-0625-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-018-0625-8

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