Keywords

adolescents, eating disorders, disordered eating, parenting styles, parental

Abstract

Background/Purpose: Eating disorders are a common chronic condition among adolescents. Some parenting styles have been associated with adolescent disordered eating behaviors (DEB), which can lead to eating disorders and a variety of other psychological and physical complaints. Healthcare practitioners and parents need to identify these DEB early and intervene in hopes of preventing the sequela of other health problems. The purpose of this article is to review current research on the association between parenting styles or practices and DEB as well as associated psychological symptoms in adolescents.

Methods: CINAHL, Academic Search Premier, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO databases were searched for English-language research articles published since 2010. Search strategies included (adolescen*) AND (parental OR parenting styles) AND (eating disorder OR disordered eating). Eleven correlational, prospective, and longitudinal studies were included in this review.

Results: Researchers found a correlation between the two parenting styles that exhibit low warmth (authoritarian and neglectful) and DEB in adolescents. They found a positive correlation between authoritarian parenting style and unhealthy and extreme weight control behaviors, emotional eating, depression, and anxiety in adolescents of both genders. Neglectful parenting correlated with unhealthy and extreme weight control behaviors, binging, bulimia symptoms, lower self-esteem, and social withdrawal. In addition, weight-related teasing from parents was also associated with binging. Overall, regular family meals were protective against DEB.

Conclusions: Knowing about the correlations between parenting practices and adolescent DEB can help healthcare providers educate parents about how to create a healthy atmosphere in the home. Interventional studies should be done to see if adolescent DEB decrease after parents receive education about these parenting practices.