The Role of Regulation and Emotional Eating Behaviour in the Early Development of Obesity

Ana V. Valero-García, Marina Olmos-Soria, Julia Madrid-Garrido, Irene Martínez-Hernández and Emma Haycraft
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Ana V. Valero-García: Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Marina Olmos-Soria: Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Julia Madrid-Garrido: Pre-anaesthesia Unit, General University Hospital Santa Lucía, 30202 Cartagena, Spain
Irene Martínez-Hernández: Faculty of Education, International University of La Rioja (UNIR), 28040 Madrid, Spain
Emma Haycraft: School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 22, 1-8

Abstract: The purpose of our research was to explore the role of both parents’ use of behavioural regulation with food and children’s emotional self-regulation in young children with and without overweight/obesity. For this purpose, 123 participants ( n = 62 boys and n = 61 girls) were recruited and classified into two groups by their Body Mass Index (BMI, non-overweight vs. overweight/obese) and into two age groups (four years and seven years). The children’s parents/primary caregivers completed two scales of the Childhood Obesogenic Behaviours’ Questionnaire (COBQ). The participants were measured and weighed to calculate their BMI to identify overweight, obesity, and non-overweight. The results showed that the means for children who were obese/overweight were significantly higher than those of children who were non-overweight for both the parents’ behavioural regulation scale (non-overweight: M = 1.80, SD = 0.69; overweight/obesity: M = 2.94, SD = 0.85) and the child’s emotional overeating scale (non-overweight: M = 1.47, SD = 0.56; overweight/obesity: M = 2.65, SD = 0.87). No statistically significant differences were found related to age (4 and 7 years), indicating that the potential impact of obesogenic behaviours starts early in development. Similarly, no differences by gender were found. Due to the implications of obesity for physical and mental health, and the high probability of maintaining this overweight status in the long term, family-based interventions to prevent obesity are highly advisable from birth.

Keywords: eating behaviour; obesogenic behaviours; behavioural regulation; emotional self-regulation; emotional eating; parental regulation; childhood; obesity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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