Recollections of controlling parental feeding patterns: Associations with binge eating and emotional eating in a pre-surgical bariatric population

Controlling parental feeding practices are associated with childhood weight and eating behaviors, but few studies have explored the relation to adult eating behaviors. People seeking bariatric surgery often have childhood onset of obesity and report difficulties with binge and emotional eating. This study examined the relationship between recalled controlling parental feeding practices (e.g., pressure to eat and restriction) and current binge and emotional eating in a sample of adults seeking bariatric surgery. Participants ( N = 155) completed self-report measures assessing recollections of parental feeding patterns and current emotional eating and binge eating behaviors. Hierarchical regressions examined recalled pressure to eat and restriction as predictors of adult binge and emotional eating. Gender and body mass index (BMI) were covariates. Results indicated that restriction was a significant predictor of binge eating, with the predictors accounting for 11.5% of the total variance in binge eating ( R 2 = 0.115, F (3,150) = 6.487, p < .001). In Step 1, gender and BMI explained 2.9% of variance, ( R 2 = 0.029, F (2,151) = 2.239, p = .110) and in Step 2 restriction accounted for an additional 8.5% of variance in binge eating ( ΔR 2 = 0.085 ). Restriction was not a significant predictor of emotional eating. Pressure to eat was not a significant predictor of emotional eating or binge eating. Results suggest that reports of parental restrictive feeding practices may be associated with binge eating behaviors in adulthood. Future longitudinal work is warranted to further clarify the relationships between childhood feeding patterns and adult eating behaviors.