The moderating role of emotional reactivity in the link between parental hostility and eating disorder symptoms in early adolescence

ABSTRACT

Parent-adolescent relationship quality and affective functioning have been implicated in eating disorder development. This study examined whether maternal and paternal hostility interact to explain adolescents’ eating disorder symptoms and whether parental hostility effects are more pronounced among adolescents with high emotional reactivity. A sample of 699 adolescents, ages 11–12 years, reported their parents’ hostility and their own eating disorder symptoms, and parents reported adolescents’ emotional reactivity. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that for emotionally reactive adolescents, paternal hostility was positively associated with eating disorder symptoms at both high and low levels of maternal hostility. In addition, eating disorder symptoms were amplified when both parents were high in hostility. Findings from this study lend support for the role of emotional reactivity in the link between parent hostility and eating disorder symptoms during adolescence.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the SECCYD study participants and research staff. The Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development was conducted by the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network and was supported by NICHD through a cooperative agreement that calls for scientific collaboration between the grantees and the NICHD staff. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development or the National Institutes of Health. We thank Susan McHale for providing editorial assistance. The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

Funding

This work was supported by NIH funding (DA036017 and HD054481).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by NIH funding (DA036017 and HD054481).