Huixian Zhang
Parental demandingness is associated with higher emotional eating, both directly and indirectly through reduced interpersonal trust. Parental responsiveness showed no significant direct association with emotional eating. These findings suggest that interventions targeting overcontrolling parenting and promoting interpersonal trust among college students could help mitigate emotional eating. Causal interpretations await longitudinal or experimental evidence.
OBJECTIVES: This cross-sectional, online self-report study examined the associations between parenting styles and emotional eating among Chinese college students, with a specific focus on the mediating role of interpersonal trust. Emotional eating-a maladaptive strategy for coping with negative emotions such as anxiety, stress, and sadness-has been linked to psychological distress and adverse physical health outcomes. Guided by a health psychology perspective, we investigated how two core parenting dimensions, responsiveness and demandingness, relate to emotional eating, both directly and indirectly through interpersonal trust. A key methodological feature is that participants retrospectively recalled parenting experiences before age 16; this should be considered when interpreting the findings.
METHODS: Data were collected from 464 Chinese college students (M = 20.3 years; 82.5% female) via online self-administered questionnaires. Participants completed validated measures: the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI; retrospective assessment of parenting before age 16), the Emotional Eating Scale, and the Interpersonal Trust Scale. Structural equation modeling (SEM) with bias-corrected bootstrap mediation (5,000 resamples) was used to examine direct and indirect effects of parenting styles on emotional eating, with interpersonal trust as the proposed mediator.
RESULTS: Paternal and maternal parenting styles showed high cross-parent consistency. Parental demandingness (overcontrol) was positively associated with emotional eating both directly (β = 0.303) and indirectly through lower interpersonal trust [indirect β = 0.085, 95% CI (0.027, 0.167)]. Parental responsiveness (care and autonomy support) was positively correlated with interpersonal trust but showed no significant direct or indirect association with emotional eating.
CONCLUSION: Parental demandingness is associated with higher emotional eating, both directly and indirectly through reduced interpersonal trust. Parental responsiveness showed no significant direct association with emotional eating. These findings suggest that interventions targeting overcontrolling parenting and promoting interpersonal trust among college students could help mitigate emotional eating. Causal interpretations await longitudinal or experimental evidence.