Parents’ Comments On Their Daughter's Weight and Eating Habits Results in Poor Body Image

07 Jun 2016 --- The less you comment on your daughter's weight and food choices in youth, the less likely she is to be dissatisfied with her weight as an adult, according to a new study from the Cornell Food and Brand Lab.

Even slim women are more likely to have poor body image if their parents commented on their weight and eating habits in youth.

The findings published in Eating & Weight Disorders show that women who recall their parents commenting on their weight are more prone to being overweight and are less satisfied with their weight as adults. "Commenting on a woman's weight is never a good idea, even when they are young girls," says lead author Brian Wansink, PhD, and author of Slim by Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life.

For the study, 501 women between 20 and 35 years old were surveyed about their body image and asked to recall how frequently their parent(s) commented about their weight. Those with a healthy BMI were 27% less likely to recall their parents commenting on their weight and 28% less likely to recall parents commenting on eating too much compared to women whose BMI indicated they were overweight.

Importantly, both overweight and healthy weight women who did recall their parents commenting on their weight as youths were less satisfied with their weight as adults. This indicates that weight related comments were damaging to body image regardless of weight.

These findings suggest that commenting about girls' weight can have a negative impact later in life. "If you're worried about your child's weight, avoid criticizing them or restricting food. Instead, nudge healthy choices and behaviors by giving them freedom to choose for themselves and by making the healthier choices more appealing and convenient," recommends lead author Brian Wansink "After all, it's the choices that children make for themselves that will lead to lifelong habits."

One explanation for these findings could be that individuals with a higher BMI and weight satisfaction may have higher salience of childhood comments from parents about their weight and eating habits, rather than an objective increased frequency in parental comments.

Although previous studies have found perception of parental weight pressure to impact children’s eating/weight behaviors, the results of this study may have been different if a more objective measure of parental commenting had been used.

This self-funded study was co-authored by Lara Latimer, PhD, of the University of Texas at Austin and Lizzy Pope, PhD, of the University of Vermont; they are both former Food and Brand Lab postdoctoral researchers.