Problematic Eating and Food-related Behaviours and Excessive Weight Gain: Why Children in Out-of-home Care Are at Risk

Abstract

Emerging evidence suggests that abuse and neglect in childhood may play a role in subsequent development of obesity. One population group particularly at risk is children and young people living in out-of-home care (OOHC). Given this population is already a vulnerable group, identifying potential mechanisms by which childhood abuse and neglect increases risk for obesity is essential. A possible explanation is that problematic eating and food-related behaviours (i.e., emotional eating, compulsive eating, overeating, binge eating, stealing or hoarding food) might mediate the association between adverse childhood experiences and obesity. Hence, the overall goal of this paper was to provide a narrative review of eating and food-related difficulties for children in care and their possible association with unhealthy and excessive weight gain. This review revealed a shortage of existing empirical papers and signalled particular need for further examination of the mediating effects of problematic eating.

有证据表明，儿童期的虐待和忽视对日后的肥胖症有一定影响。失去家庭看护的青少年是重要的风险人群。由于这部分人口易受伤害，弄清儿童期虐待及忽视如何增加肥胖风险的机制就至关重要。一个可能的解释是，成问题的饮食习惯以及与食物相关的行为（如情绪化进食，强迫进食，过量进食，暴饮暴食，偷、藏食物等）可能是儿童期不良经历与肥胖症之间的桥梁。本文意在评述未成年人饮食及食物相关障碍及其与身体超重之间的关联。目前缺少实证性研究，特别需进一步考察问题饮食的影响。

Keywords:

• Adolescents
• Out-of-home Care
• Health Social Work

Additional information

Funding

Rachael Cox has a PhD scholarship funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council.