Parental Overvaluation of Child Weight/Shape is Associated with Child Disordered Eating Beyond Associations with Parental Internalized Weight Bias.

Background: Parental overvaluation (parental identity based on their child's weight) and parental weight bias internalization (parents' internalization of societal bias towards people living in larger bodies) are both associated with their children's disordered eating. Less is known about the extent to which these constructs overlap and how their combination may relate to pediatric disordered eating.

Objective: The current study examined the relationship between parental overvaluation, parental internalized weight bias, and children's disordered eating to test whether parental overvaluation was associated with child disordered eating beyond the effects of parent internalized weight bias.

Design: Cross-sectional data were collected from parents in the United States recruited online through Mechanical Turk from March 2021 - January 2022.

Participants/setting: Participants were 196 parents (M=38.2 years). Participants were excluded if they were younger than 21 years old, lived with their child less than half the time, or if they failed to meet attention and validity checks embedded throughout assessments.

Main Outcome Measures: Child disordered eating behaviors (overeating, binge eating, purging, secretive eating) were evaluated.

Statistical Analyses Performed: Correlations compared parental overvaluation and internalized weight bias. Hierarchical logistical regressions tested the association of internalized weight bias with child disordered eating behaviors and then whether parental overvaluation significantly contributed to the variance in child disordered eating behaviors beyond the effect of internalized weight bias.

Results: Across all child disordered eating behaviors, parent internalized weight bias was significant in the first step of the logistical regression when it was the singular variable (all ps<.005). When both variables were included in models, parental overvaluation, but not weight bias, was significantly associated with all child disordered eating behaviors (all ps<.001).

Conclusions: The extent to which a parent evaluates themselves as a parent based on their child's weight/shape is associated with child disordered eating behaviors more so than internalized weight bias. More research is needed to determine if parent-focused treatment for pediatric eating disorders could benefit from strategies aimed at shifting the valued aspects of parental identity away from child weight/shape.