Emotional feeding as interpersonal emotion regulation: A developmental risk factor for binge-eating behaviors

Cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating, and emotional eating. The Italian version of the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire-Revised 18 (TFEQ-R-18): a three-step validation study

BACKGROUND

The Three Factor Eating Questionnaire-Revised 18 (TFEQ-R-18) is an extensively used questionnaire to measure three transdiagnostic features of eating behavior: cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating, and emotional eating.

OBJECTIVE

This research aims to investigate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the TFEQ-R-18 in three large community samples.

METHOD

Cross-sectional research designs were employed. In Study 1 (N = 537), an exploratory graph analysis (EGA) was used to examine item clustering within the TFEQ-R-18. In Study 2 (N = 645), a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test its structural validity. In Study 3 (N = 346), a MANOVA was employed assessing mean differences across eating disorders (e.g., anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder).

RESULTS

In Study 1, the EGA accurately identified the three original dimensions of the TFEQ-R-18. Study 2 showed that the Italian TFEQ-R-18 has good fit indexes (CFI = 0.989, RMSEA = 0.064; 90% CI [0.058, 0.070], SRMR = 0.062), and possesses robust psychometric properties. Study 3 reveals distinct, statistically significant differences among eating disorders.

CONCLUSION

The TFEQ-R-18 proves to be a concise and precise tool for measuring transdiagnostic eating behaviors. Its applicability in the Italian context, supported by robust psychometric properties, suggests its utility for both research and clinical purposes. The findings affirm its potential to inform interventions aimed at enhancing psychological health.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level V, descriptive study.

Does perceived support moderate the link between acculturative stress and problematic eating behaviors? The role of family, significant other, and friend support

OBJECTIVE

Acculturative stress, often experienced by members of minority groups, is related to problematic eating behaviors. What remains poorly understood is the function of perceived social support in this link. This study evaluated the moderating role of perceived support from family, the significant other, and friends in the association between acculturative stress and problematic eating behaviors, including emotional eating, uncontrolled eating, and cognitive restraint eating.

METHOD

An online cross-sectional study was conducted with 497 Asian and Latinx college students using standardized questionnaires. Three hierarchical multivariable models were analyzed, with each eating behavior included as the outcome variable. Demographic variables (Step 1), general perceived stress (Step 2), and predictor variables (i.e., acculturative stress, perceived support; Step 3) were added using Method Enter. Interaction terms were entered using Method Stepwise (Step 4) to test for moderation effects.

RESULTS

As perceived family support increased, the magnitude of the link between acculturative stress and higher uncontrolled eating increased (p = .002). When perceived significant other support was higher, the magnitude of the relationship between acculturative stress and higher emotional eating increased (p = .02). Higher perceived friend support was directly related to reduced uncontrolled eating (p = .002).

DISCUSSION

This study highlights the heterogeneous effects of various sources of perceived support on the link between acculturative stress and problematic eating behaviors. Findings imply that problematic eating prevention and intervention programs might benefit from considering not only the acculturative stress experienced by racial/ethnic minority young adults but also the sources of support perceived.

PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE

Perceived support from family and the significant other increased the magnitude of the link between higher acculturative stress and increased problematic eating behaviors, whereas support from friends showed a direct relationship with reduced uncontrolled eating. The results highlight the nuanced functions of various sources of perceived social support and contribute to a deeper understanding of potential moderators in the relationship between acculturative stress and problematic eating behaviors among racial/ethnic minorities.

Music as an alternative self-regulation strategy to snack foods following a negative mood induction in 5-7-year-old children: Interactions with parental use of food as a reward

This study aimed to extend studies that have looked at snack food consumption following a negative mood induction, and examine whether listening to a happy song would counteract food consumption in children. A second aim was to examine whether parental feeding practices (use of food as a reward and the use of food to regulate emotions) and child Body Mass Index (BMI) would moderate any differences. Eighty 5-7-year-old children took part in a negative mood induction and were then assigned to either a happy music condition or a silent control condition. The weight (g) consumed of four snack foods was measured (fruit hearts, crisps, chocolate biscuits, and breadsticks). Parents filled in baseline measures of feeding practices. There were no significant differences in food consumption between conditions. There was, however, a significant interaction between the high use of food as a reward and the condition on the amount of food eaten. In particular, following a negative -mood induction, those children whose parents reported using food as a reward and who were in the silent condition ate significantly more snack foods. There were no significant interactions with child BMI or with parental use of food to regulate emotions. This research suggests that the use of certain parental strategies may influence how children respond to novel emotion regulation techniques. Further research is needed to evaluate the best types of music to regulate emotions in children, and whether parents can be encouraged to replace maladaptive feeding practices with more adaptive non-food practices.

A longitudinal study on changes in food parenting practices during COVID-19 and the role of parental well-being

The COVID-19 pandemic may negatively influence food parenting practices, also among parents of adolescents. Parental well-being (stress and depressive symptoms) may explain these COVID-19 related changes in food parenting practices (snack structure, healthy structure, modeling, autonomy support, and coercive control). However, most previous studies performed before or during the COVID-19 pandemic have been limited by cross-sectional designs. The aim of the current study among parents of adolescent children was twofold. First, we aimed to examine prospective differences in food parenting practices comparing the situation before and during COVID-19. Second, we aimed to examine both cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between parental well-being and the dimensions of food parenting, while additionally examining whether these prospective associations were more pronounced in parents who had experienced more COVID-19 stressful life events. Parents (N = 290; 74.9% female; at baseline: M_age = 46.9; SD_age = 4.3) of adolescent children (at baseline: M_age = 14.3; SD_age = 0.6) completed online surveys about parental well-being and food parenting twice: One year before the COVID-19 pandemic (spring 2019) and during the COVID-19 pandemic, 1.5 years after the first measurement (autumn 2020). In general, we found consistent evidence for an average decrease in food autonomy support and an increase in coercive control during COVID-19. However, parental well-being did not seem to explain (changes in) food parenting practices during COVID-19, also not in combination with stressful life events. Our findings suggest that, regardless of parental well-being, the general COVID-19 situation had some small negative influences on autonomy support and coercive control among parents of adolescents. These findings might be explained by parents being more often confronted with unhealthy eating occasions in the COVID-19 home context, triggering these negative parental responses.

The Associations between Caregivers' Emotional and Instrumental Feeding, Children's Emotional Eating, and Children's Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods in China

High consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) increases the risks of non-communicable diseases and all-cause mortality in adulthood, and the risk of early childhood caries. Limited evidence about factors influencing children's consumption of UPF exists. This study was conducted to assess the prevalence of UPF consumption among children less than three years of age, and identify its associations with caregivers' emotional and instrumental feeding, and children's emotional eating. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China. Caregivers caring for children aged 6-36 months (n = 408) were recruited. Caregivers' emotional and instrumental feeding practices and children's emotional eating were assessed by the Parents' Feeding Practices Scale for Infant and Young Child and Children's Eating Behaviour Questionnaire, respectively. Children's UPF consumption was assessed by a validated Food Frequency Questionnaire. Of the children, 86.8% consumed UPF. The highest percentage of UPF consumed was pastries (63.5%), followed by solid or semi-solid dairy products (58.8%), and reconstituted meat products (56.4%). Caregivers' emotional and instrumental feeding was positively associated with children's consumption of UPF (OR = 1.59, 95%CI: 1.01, 2.49), a higher frequency of UPF consumption weekly (OR = 1.80, 95%CI: 1.35, 2.39), and a larger amount of UPF consumption weekly (OR = 1.85, 95% CI: 1.38, 2.49). Children's higher frequency of emotional undereating was associated with their UPF consumption (OR = 1.61, 95%CI: 1.07, 2.42) and a higher frequency of UPF consumption weekly (OR = 1.33, 95%CI: 1.03, 1.73). Children's emotional undereating significantly mediated the associations between caregivers' emotional and instrumental feeding and children's consumption of reconstituted meat products. Caregivers should be educated to avoid emotional and instrumental feeding practices, and cultivate children's good eating habits to improve children's diet quality.

Regulatory parental feeding behaviors, emotion suppression, and emotional eating in the absence of hunger: Examining parent-adolescent dyadic associations

OBJECTIVE

The present study aimed to improve the understanding of inter- and intrapersonal processes implicated in emotional eating using a large community sample of parent-adolescent dyads.

METHOD

Participants included 1823 parent and adolescent dyads who completed the National Cancer Institute's Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating Study. Parents and adolescents each completed measures assessing parents' feeding behaviors, and participants' own emotional functioning and eating behaviors. Actor-partner interdependence models examined dyadic associations among participants' reports of parents' regulatory feeding behaviors (allowing adolescents to eat for emotional comfort purposes, controlling adolescents' "junk" food/sugary drink intakes), emotion suppression, and emotional eating in the absence of hunger.

RESULTS

Multiple within-person, cross-dyad member, and divergent parent versus adolescent dyadic effects were identified that differed based on the parental feeding behavior that parents and adolescents reported on. For example, adolescents' reports that their parents regulate their "junk" food/sugary drink intakes were associated with lower levels of their own emotion suppression and, in turn, lower levels of both their own and their parents' emotional eating, whereas parents' reports that they regulate their adolescents' "junk" food/sugary drink intakes were associated with higher levels of their own emotion suppression and emotional eating.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings underscore the complex interconnectivity among parental feeding behaviors, emotion dysregulation, and emotional eating within the parent-adolescent dyadic context, and support the use of preventive disordered eating interventions focused on enhancing healthy parent feeding behaviors and adaptive emotion regulation skills from a family-based perspective.

Prevention of eating disorders: 2020 in review

Fifteen prevention-related publications in Eating Disorders during 2020 are reviewed. Two models frame this analysis: (1) the Mental Health Intervention Spectrum: health promotion → types of prevention → case identification and referral → treatment; and (2) parsing phases of prevention into a cycle: rationale, theory, and methodology, shaped by critical, integrative reviews → clarification of risk and protective factors → program innovation and feasibility studies → efficacy and effectiveness research → program dissemination. In this cycle the first two phases and the last phase inform advocacy for social policies supporting prevention. Ten articles comprising a special issue on yoga demonstrate the value of investing in translational prevention science that acknowledges (a) embodying experiences as a broad category of protective factors; (b) the utility of multidimensional theoretical models; and (c) social justice issues that advocacy efforts must address to make programs widely and equitably available. Other articles reviewed show, for example, that studies of emotion dysregulation and emotional eating are needed to enter a prevention cycle that moves us beyond body image (or weight/shape) concerns in defining high-risk groups and developing indicated prevention. Finally, implications of the absence of efficacy, effectiveness, dissemination, and advocacy studies are discussed.

A theoretical review of interpersonal emotion regulation in eating disorders: enhancing knowledge by bridging interpersonal and affective dysfunction

Individuals with eating disorders (EDs) frequently report interpersonal and affective dysfunction. A useful lens for uniting these ideas is through the framework of interpersonal emotion regulation (IER), which consists of the ways others assist a distressed individual and how this shapes his or her subsequent emotional, behavioral, and cognitive responses. In this theoretical review, we provide an overview of the rationale for exploring IER and review IER processes in this population using the framework of the Process Model of Emotion Regulation. Finally, we offer suggestions for next steps in conducting research. IER offers a parsimonious way to explore social and emotional constructs related to ED pathology and may provide potential targets for prevention and intervention in these difficult-to-treat disorders.