Parents can help ward off eating disorders in teens

Parents may have a role to play in whether their teenagers are going to adopt healthy eating behaviours, according to a new study.
The way parents manage mealtimes has been linked to lower levels of eating disorders in adolescents, researchers from Loughborough University, UK, have found.
They studied more than 500 teens aged 13-15 and found that teens who felt their parents had more responsibility for providing meals, or whose parents were in charge of food provision, reported lower levels of eating disorders.
However, parents' use of more controlling food-related strategies was linked to less desirable teen eating behaviours.
Researchers found that if girls feel pressured by their parents to eat, they are more likely to report signs of disordered eating.

Boys were more likely to report symptoms of eating disorders where they feel that certain foods are restricted by their parents.

"Our findings highlight the importance of parents continuing to be responsible for mealtimes until their children are well into their teens," said lead researcher Dr Emma Haycraft from the University's Centre for Research into Eating Disorders (LUCRED).
"By providing meals, and at the same time avoiding the use of overly controlling feeding practices, parents and carers can help contribute to more positive eating behaviours.
"Our next step will be to find out to what extent the teens' perception corresponds with what their parents are actually doing," Haycraft said.

The study was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.