Does the recall of caregiver eating messages exacerbate the pathogenic impact of shame on eating and weight-related difficulties?

Abstract

The central role of caregiver eating messages has been recognized on later individual’s eating behaviour, body image and weight status. Additionally, shame is a painful emotion also associated with the development and maintenance of body image and eating-related difficulties. The main aim of the present study was to explore the moderator effect of the recall of caregiver eating messages on the associations between external shame, body weight and shape-related concerns, and the adoption of inflexible eating rules. The sample comprised 479 women from the general population, aged from 18 to 60 years, who completed selfreport measures. Results of the correlation analyses showed that early caregiver restrictive/critical eating messages were positively associated with external shame, inflexible eating and overvaluation of body weight and shape. Path analysis results demonstrated a moderator effect of early caregiver critical eating messages on the relationship between external shame and both weight and shape-related concerns and inflexible eating. These results revealed that caregiver restrictive/critical eating messages exacerbated the impact of shame on these psychopathological indices, with the tested model accounting for 19% and 38% of the variance of inflexible eating rules and body weight and shape concerns, respectively. These findings seem to suggest important research and clinical implications, contributing to the understanding of disordered eating patterns, and appear to represent a new avenue for the development of prevention and intervention programs. Particularly, these findings support the relevance of targeting caregiver eating-related attitudes and messages in prevention interventions for eating psychopathology.