Emotion Regulation Feeding Practices Link Parents' Emotional Eating to Children's Emotional Eating: A Moderated Mediation Study.

UNLABELLED Past research suggests an association between parents' and children's emotional eating, but research has yet to examine mechanisms underlying this association. OBJECTIVE The current study examined whether feeding for emotion regulation mediates the association between parents' and children's emotional eating, and whether this association is moderated by children's self-regulation in eating. METHOD 95 parents reported on their own and their children's emotional eating, their children's self-regulation in eating, as well as their feeding practices. RESULTS Findings revealed that feeding for emotion regulation mediated the association between parents' and children's emotional eating when children's self-regulation in eating was low, but not when self-regulation in eating was high. CONCLUSION The current findings demonstrate the complexity of the link between parents' and children's emotional eating, suggesting practitioners should consider both feeding practices and children's self-regulation in eating when designing intervention programs.