The Influence of Parental Control on Emotional Eating Among College Students: The Mediating Role of Emotional Experience and Regulation.

Background

Excessive parental control has been found to be associated with an increasing risk of emotional eating in children, yet the potential moderating role of emotion regulation abilities remains unclear. This study investigated the relationships between different types of parental control and emotional eating, as well as the mediating effects of specific emotion regulation strategies and negative emotions.

Methods

A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 1167 Chinese college students (62.5% females, age: 20.23 ± 1.50 years) recruited via social media. Participants completed the Parental Control Scale, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Depression Anxiety Stress Scales, and Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS and PROCESS (Model 81), with BMI, age, and gender controlled as a covariate. Mediation effects were tested using the 95% bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals (based on 5000 samples).

Results

The results indicate that (1) both parental behavioral control and psychological control were significantly positively correlated with emotional eating, with effect sizes ranging from small to moderate; (2) anxiety and stress in negative emotions partially mediate the relationship between the two dimensions of parental control and emotional eating, while depression did not serve as a mediator in this relationship; (3) expression suppression and stress chain-mediated between the two dimensions of parental control and emotional eating; expression suppression and anxiety chain-mediated between parental psychological control and emotional eating.

Conclusions

Higher parental control is associated with increased emotional eating behaviors in children. Anxiety, stressful emotions, and expressive suppression play significant roles. These findings suggest new interventions to reduce emotional eating and associated overweight risks in college students.