New study reveals caregivers' role in emotional overeating among toddlers

A recent study by researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign explores the origins of emotional overeating in 3-year-olds, suggesting that how caregivers respond to negative emotions such as disappointment, fear, and anger plays a significant role in the development of this behaviour.

The study followed more than 350 children from birth to age 3, finding direct associations between infants' temperaments and their development of emotional overeating. Emotional overeating refers to consuming food to cope with feelings rather than in response to hunger.

Sehyun Ju, the study's first author said: "Our findings show that if a child has a greater capacity to orient their attention and regulate their emotions during infancy, caregivers may be more likely to implement supportive responses, making the child less likely to turn to food for self-regulation,".

Supportive responses from caregivers included problem-solving strategies to alleviate a child's distress, validating and addressing the child's feelings, or offering encouragement. Non-supportive responses involved punishing a child for expressing emotions and minimising or dismissing their feelings.

The study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, supports previous research indicating that emotional eating is driven more by individuals' ability to regulate their emotions than by the emotions themselves. Parents should be aware that emotional overeating is a complex behaviour influenced by caregivers' reactions to the child's emotional expression and by the child's temperament and ability to manage feelings.

Parents or caregivers were surveyed on their children's eating behaviours, personality traits, and emotional self-regulation at 3 months, 18 months, and 3 years old. They also responded to 12 hypothetical scenarios where the child expressed negative emotions, indicating how likely they would be to use supportive or non-supportive methods.

The research found that 3-month-old infants with high levels of cheerfulness, sociability, and spontaneity were more likely to engage in emotional overeating three years later. Children's eating behaviours were significantly predicted by their ability to adapt to external stimuli and self-regulate emotions, with caregivers' responses to negative emotions being a critical factor.

The researchers emphasised that emotional overeating contributes to unhealthy weight gain, increasing young children's risks of developing serious health problems such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Responding supportively to children's negative emotions is crucial for promoting both their psychological and physical health, as it influences how they learn to manage feelings and their approach to food.