Impact of Mothers' Distress and Emotional Eating on Calories Served to Themselves and Their Young Children: An Experimental Study

Background: Parents play a significant role in children's eating behaviours and food environment. Emotional eating (i.e., eating due to/to cope with emotions regardless of hunger) can contribute to excess energy consumption and subsequent weight gain. Yet, there is a paucity of research examining mothers' feeding and eating behaviours in the presence of their young children during times of acute distress.

Objective: The current study examined whether manipulated maternal mood impacted subsequent eating and parental-feeding in mothers with overweight or obesity with their preschool aged children in a laboratory-based experiment.

Methods: Mothers (n = 47) with overweight or obesity and their preschool aged children were randomized to either an acute distress or control group. After completing a task which manipulated mothers' moods, respectively, dyads were offered a buffet of snack foods. Measures of mothers' reported emotional eating and distress were collected, and calories served and consumed were objectively measured.

Results: There were no between-group differences regarding calories served or consumed. Mothers across both groups who reported higher emotional eating served themselves (p = 0.014) and their children (p = 0.007) less food, and mothers consumed less food (p = 0.045). Mothers who reported higher emotional eating and increased acute distress fed their children less food (p = 0.02) and both children and mothers ate less food (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Results suggest that mothers who report emotional eating tendencies may feed their children less food during periods of acute distress.