Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T02:47:20.263Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Parental Bonding and Body Mass Index in a Female Community Sample: The Mediating Role of Eating Disorder Thoughts and Core Beliefs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2015

Myra J. Cooper  and
Eliane Young
Myra J. Cooper*
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, UK
Eliane Young
Affiliation:
St Mary's Hospital, Kettering, UK
*
Reprint requests to Myra Cooper, Isis Education Centre, University of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK. E-mail: myra.cooper@hmc.ox.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background: It is likely that disrupted early parent-child relationships, eating disorder related cognitions and negative self-beliefs are relevant to some women who are overweight/obese. Aims: This study tested the hypotheses that disrupted parent-child relationships would be linked to higher body mass index (BMI) and that this relationship would then be mediated by cognition. Method: A group of women were recruited from the community and completed measures of eating disorder (ED) thoughts, negative self-beliefs, and parental bonding. Individual body mass indices (BMIs) were calculated. Results: One hundred and eighteen women completed the study. There was a relationship between parental bonding and higher BMI. As hypothesized, the relationship between parental bonding (as measured by maternal care, and paternal overprotection) and BMI appeared to be mediated by a range of ED thoughts, and some negative self-beliefs. Conclusion: The cognitions measured here, both ED related cognitions and negative self-beliefs, may be a useful target when considering psychological treatment for women who are overweight or obese.

Keywords

Body Mass Indexcognitionschemaoverweight/obesityparental bonding
Type
Brief Clinical Reports
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , January 2016 , pp. 123 - 127
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baron, R. M. and Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.Google Scholar
Cooper, M. J., Todd, G. and Wells, A. (2009). Treating Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating: an integrated metacognitive and cognitive therapy manual. London: Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Cooper, M. J., Todd, G., Woolrich, R., Somerville, K. and Wells, A. (2006). Assessing eating disorder thoughts and behaviours: the development and preliminary evaluation of two questionnaires. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 30, 551–570. doi:10.1007/s10608-006-9003-3.Google Scholar
Fairchild, H. and Cooper, M. J. (2010). Development of a revised, multidimensional measure of core beliefs in eating disorders. Eating Behaviors, 11, 239–246. doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2010.05.004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, A. F. and Scharkow, M. (2013). The relative trustworthiness of inferential tests of the indirect effect in statistical mediation analysis: does method really matter? Psychological Science, 24, 1918–1927. doi:10.1177/0956797613480187.Google Scholar
Parker, G., Tupling, H. and Brown, L. (1979). A parental bonding instrument. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 52, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.