Comprehending emotional eating in obese youngsters: the role of parental rejection and emotion regulation

OBJECTIVES: The present study examined the role of emotion regulation in the relation between parental rejection and emotional eating of obese youngsters. METHOD: Participants were 110 obese youngsters between the ages of 10 and 16 years who were referred to a Belgian treatment centre for obesity. Participants completed questionnaires assessing maternal and paternal rejection, emotion regulation strategies and emotional eating during their intake at the treatment centre. Bootstrapping procedure was used to test if emotion regulation mediated the relationship between maternal and paternal rejection on the one hand and emotional eating of the youngster on the other hand. RESULTS: Results revealed that the use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies mediated the relation between maternal rejection and emotional eating. Paternal rejection was neither associated with the emotion regulation nor with the emotional eating of the youngster. DISCUSSION: The findings highlight the importance of assessing the emotional bond between mother and child and the emotion regulation of the youngster in the treatment of pediatric obesity.