What's Mom and Dad Got to Do With It? Factors Related Between Mothers’, Fathers’, and Young Children’s Weight Bias

Abstract

Our aim was to examine the role of parents in the transmission of weight bias to young children. Specifically, we assessed mothers’ and fathers’ weight bias and beliefs about the controllability of weight, and fear of fat in relation to their children’s weight bias. Eighty-three mothers, 57 fathers, and their children (4- to 7-year-olds) participated. We failed to find any significant associations between children’s weight bias, maternal responses, and most paternal responses. Only fathers’ dislike of adults with overweight had daughters with more positive views of overweight figures. These results suggest that parents do not appear to contribute to the weight bias of preschoolers and their influence may only emerge in middle childhood. The present study also suggests that more work on the psychometric properties of weight bias scales and tasks to measure weight bias in children is vital to accurately evaluate interventions to decrease weight bias.

Keywords:

• Weight stigma
• anti-fat attitudes
• mothers
• fathers
• controllability beliefs

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the families who participated in this study. This research was supported by the Sara Spencer Research Award.

Disclosure statement

None.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sarah M. Hutchison

Sarah Hutchison is postdoctoral fellow at BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute and the Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia and is now supported by Sunny Hill Foundation for Children. Her research broadly focuses on children’s cognitive and social development.

Ulrich Müller is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Victoria. His research focuses on the development of executive function (i.e., higher order cognitive skills involved inproblem solving), the development of embodied cognition, and the effects of electronic media on children’s development.