Psychologist Elvind Ystrom of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health asked the mothers how often they fed their (all of whom were less than 18 months old) any of 36 different fatty and sweet foods, and then inquired about the mothers' states of mind.
"We found that mothers who were emotionally unstable, anxious, sad, angry, had poor self-confidence or a negative view of the world were far more likely to give their child sweets and fatty foods," Prof. Ystrom said. "At the same time there was no link between maternal personality and how healthy a diet the child got in the form of fruits and vegetables. & Unfortunately, we could not study the fathers."
One theory is that depressed mothers could not say "no" to their children.
This study was done in conjunction with the University of Oslo.
Labels: childhood_obesity, parenting, obese-kids, overweight children, eating-habits
Posted By: Aspen/CRC
