Maternal Eating Styles and Restrictive Feeding Practices: Indirect Effects through Perceived Child Appetite and Weight Concern

Background: Parents play a central role in shaping children’s eating behaviors. While previous research has documented associations between parental attitudes and feeding practices, fewer studies have examined how mothers’ own eating styles may contribute to their perceptions of their children’s eating attitudes and behaviors and how these may influence subsequent feeding practices. Objectives: This study tested a cross-sectional mediation model to examine whether mothers’ eating styles predicted their self-reported restrictive feeding practices indirectly through their perceptions of their children’s appetite and subsequently through their concern about their children’s weight. Methods: A total of 488 mothers (M_age = 33.87 years, SD = 4.81, range = 20–49) of children aged 2–6 years (M_age = 3.85 years, SD = 1.33) completed self-report measures, including the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) for maternal eating styles, the Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) for parental concerns and restrictive practices, and the Children’s Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ) for perceptions of child eating attitudes. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test the hypothesized mediation model, with model fit evaluated using CFI, TLI, RMSEA, and SRMR indices. Results: The best-fitting model showed that maternal eating styles predicted restrictive feeding practices indirectly through maternal perceptions of child appetite and concern about child weight. Specifically, mothers who reported higher emotional and external eating tendencies perceived their children as having stronger appetitive drives, which in turn predicted greater concern about child weight and more restrictive feeding practices. Conclusions: Findings suggest that maternal eating styles may bias mothers’ perceptions of their children’s appetite and influence restrictive feeding practices indirectly through increased concern about child weight. These results underscore the importance of addressing parental cognitions and maternal eating styles in interventions designed to promote healthy child feeding practices.