Parent to Child Intergenerational Transmission of Direct and Indirect Weight and Shape Communication

Abstract

Parental communication about body weight and shape is associated with offspring's eating behaviors and body image. However, predictors of parental weight/shape communication are less known. The present study explored whether direct (i.e., comments to the child about their weight and encouragement to diet) and indirect (i.e., modeling of the importance of body weight/shape via parent's own dieting and comments about their own weight) communication about weight, shape, and eating from parents in childhood predicted women's direct and indirect communication about weight/shape to their own child in adulthood. Participants were 634 adult mothers who provided retrospective reports of their parents' direct and indirect weight/shape-related communication during childhood. Participants then self-reported their own current direct and indirect weight/shape communication towards their own child. Multiple linear regression explored whether childhood direct and indirect communication predicts maternal weight/shape communication towards participants' own child in adulthood. Childhood direct weight/shape communication was a salient predictor of both current direct and indirect weight/shape communication. Childhood indirect weight/shape communication did not predict current direct communication when modeled with childhood direct communication, however, it was predictive of current indirect communication. Findings may highlight a need for parental psychoeducation on the lasting influence of familial weight/shape communication.

Keywords: Body talk; Intergenerational; Parent modeling; Parents; Weight conversations.

Fig. 1

Interaction between childhood direct and indirect weight/shape communication in predicting current direct weight/shape communication. The numbers in the colored boxes represent the level of direct weight/shape communication the mother reported during childhood with 0 indicating no/low amounts of childhood direct weight/shape communication and 4 indicating very high amounts of mother’s childhood direct weight/shape communication. The interaction between mother’s childhood direct and indirect weight/shape communication in predicting their current direct communication was non-significant. There is a positive association between mother’s childhood direct weight/shape communication and current direct weight/shape communication (as seen by higher levels of childhood direct communication (different colored lines) being associated with higher levels of current direct weight/shape communication (y-axis); however, this relationship remains unchanged across levels of childhood indirect weight/shape communication (x-axis). Race, ethnicity, household income, child age, child gender, and child’s BMI percentile were included as covariates in the model

Fig. 2

Interaction between childhood direct and indirect weight/shape communication in predicting current indirect weight/shape communication. The numbers in the colored boxes represent the level of direct weight/shape communication the mother reported during childhood with 0 indicating no/low amounts of childhood direct weight/shape communication and 4 indicating very high amounts of mother’s childhood direct weight/shape communication. There was a significant interaction between mother’s childhood direct and indirect weight/shape communication in predicting current indirect communication. At lower levels of childhood direct communication (represented by the red, blue, green lines), childhood indirect communication (along the x-axis) is more predictive of current indirect communication (y-axis), whereas at higher levels of childhood direct weight/shape communication, childhood indirect communication is less predictive of current indirect communication (as seen with the nearly flat lines). Race, ethnicity, household income, child age, child gender, and child’s BMI percentile were included as covariate in the model