Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-14-2025

Journal / Book Title

Journal of Child and Family Studies

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.

DOI

10.1007/s10826-025-03078-z

Rights

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Published Citation

Ferrer, E., Marhan, S., Haller, L. et al. Parent to Child Intergenerational Transmission of Direct and Indirect Weight and Shape Communication. J Child Fam Stud 34, 2070–2080 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-025-03078-z

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