Gender Differences in Parental Influences on Adolescent Body Dissatisfaction and Disordered Eating

Abstract

This study explored gender differences in the relationship between parental influences and body dissatisfaction and disordered
eating among offspring. Participants were 221 male and 380 (63%) female French high school students of mean age 16 (SD = .95)
years old, from the Toulouse area, who completed a survey exploring parental influences, body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness
and bulimic symptoms. Girls (compared to boys) perceived more maternal comments regarding both their own weight and shape,
and the importance of physical appearance. Parental variables explained a larger amount of the variance in girls’ body dissatisfaction
and disordered eating (compared to boys’). Findings support both a cumulative model and a gender-linked model of transmission
of attitudes and behaviors related to shape and eating.

Full text

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Gender Differences in Parental Influences on Adolescent
Body Dissatisfaction and Disordered Eating
Rachel F. Rodgers & Karine Faure & Henri Chabrol
# Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009
Abstract This study explored gender differences in the
relationship between parental influences and body dissatis-
faction and disordered eating among offspring. Participants
were 221 male and 380 (63%) female French high school
students of mean age 16 (SD=.95) years old, from the
Toulouse area, who completed a survey exploring
parental influences, body dissatisfaction, drive for thin-
ness and bulimic symptoms. Girls (compared to boys)
perceived more maternal comments regarding both their
own weight and shape, and the importance of physical
appearance. Parental variables explained a larger amount
of the variance in girls’ body dissatisfaction and
disordered eating (compared to boys’). Findings support
both a cumulative model and a gender-linked model of
transmission of attitudes and behaviors related to shape
and eating.
Keywords Parentalinfluences.Gender.
Bodydissatisfaction.Disorderedeating
Introduction
Body image and eating concerns are present in western
society among both male and female adolescents, with
increasing support for the role sociocultural pressures play
in their development (Ata et al. 2007; Muris et al. 2005;
Peterson et al. 2007). However, there is emerging evidence
of gender differences in the relationship between sociocul-
tural influences and body shape and eating concerns
(McCabe and Ricciardelli 2003; Peterson et al. 2007).
These gender differences may lie firstly in the perception of
sociocultural pressures. Secondly, differences may arise
from the manner in which sociocultural pressures affect
body image and eating concerns. The present study aims to
explore gender differences in perception of parental body
and eating-related attitudes, behaviors and messages, as
well as their association with body dissatisfaction and
disordered eating among a sample of French adolescents.
The large majority of studies examining parental
influences on body dissatisfaction and disordered eating
behaviors have been carried out among English-speaking
populations (Rodgers and Chabrol 2009b). As parental
messages tend to vary with cultural differences in beauty-
ideals (Williams et al. 2006), further research is therefore
necessary in other settings. Previous research has brought
forward the high prevalence rates of body dissatisfaction
and disordered eating among French adolescents and young
adults. A national study, conducted among a representative
sample of 2,109 adolescents in the Paris area, reported that
45% of females and 36% of males were dissatisfied with
their body shape (Embersin et al. 2007). Similar findings
were reported in a modest sample of 104 female students
from the Toulouse area, 30% of whom considered them-
selves to be overweight (Lachaud et al. 2004). These rates
are comparable to those encountered in samples from the
H. Chabrol
Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches en Psychopathologie,
Université Toulouse-II-Le Mirail,
Toulouse, France
K. Faure
Service de psychiatrie et de psychologie médicale,
Hôpital Casselardit,
CHU Toulouse, France
R. F. Rodgers (*)
CERPP, Pavillon de la Recherche,
5, allées Antonio Machado,
31058 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
e-mail: rodgers.rachel@gmail.com
Sex Roles
DOI 10.1007/s11199-009-9690-9

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USA where, for example, 34% of females and 24% of
males of sample of 2,516 adolescents reported low body
satisfaction (Neumark-Sztainer et al. 2006). Regarding
disordered eating, a study (Ledoux et al. 1991) among
3,288 French adolescents in a northern area of France,
reported high levels of eating disorder symptoms with, for
example, 28% of females and 13% of males reporting
binging episodes. A study including a sample of 1,001
French adolescents from the Toulouse area revealed that
30% of the sample reported some form of disordered eating
(Callahan et al. 2003). Again, these prevalence rates are
similar to those reported in adolescent samples in the USA
where, for example, 21% of females and 7% of males
reported binging (Neumark-Sztainer et al. 2006), and 57%
of girls and 33% of boys (n=4746) reported using
unhealthy weight control behaviors (Neumark-Sztainer et
al. 2003). These similarities suggest that, despite the lack of
empirical investigation, sociocultural theories concerning
body dissatisfaction and disordered eating developed in
other Western settings are applicable in France. This view is
backed by the similar “normative body dissatisfaction”
(Callahan et al. 2003) and the gradual standardization of
western culture due to globalization, which further supports
the relevance of studies conducted in other countries.
Despite a growing awareness of the importance of
sociocultural pressures in the development of body dissat-
isfaction and eating disorders (Rodgers and Chabrol
2009b), little data is available regarding the role of parents
in French samples. Although the existing theoretical
literature identifies parents as important transmitters of
attitudes and behaviors (Cassuto 2005), to date, only one
study has explored this role by investigating the association
between parental attitudes and dieting behavior among their
offspring in a French sample (May et al. 2008).
Parents have been described as important sociocultural
agents (Dunkley et al. 2001; van den Berg et al. 2002).
Their role as sources of information during childhood and
adolescence as well as their capacity to actively modify the
messages they send their offspring concerning body shape
and eating, make them of particular interest in understand-
ing how young people’s attitudes towards body shape and
eating develop. Furthermore, gender differences are partic-
ularly relevant here, as it would seem likely that mothers
and fathers interact differently with their sons or daughters,
who in turn identify to a different extent with each parent.
Western society places undue emphasis on female
appearance, which might result in daughters perceiving
their parents as holding higher expectations of them to
conform to beauty ideals than sons. Parents communicate
with their offspring both with their words and their
behaviors. As a consequence, they may place their
daughters under greater pressure, and talk with them more
about weight and shape. Furthermore, daughters may
observe dieting and eating patterns in their mothers to a
greater extent, and be more aware of dieting related
attitudes, than their male counterparts. A large amount of
the research on family influences on body dissatisfaction
and disordered eating behaviors has focused on the
communication and transmission of attitudes and behaviors
between mothers and daughters (Vincent and McCabe
2000), tending to neglect fathers and sons. The few studies
that have considered gender differences in the perception of
parental attitudes, behaviors, and messages have not
yielded consistent findings. Some authors have reported
evidence in line with the focus on female appearance with
girls perceiving greater pressure to be thin from their family
(Presnell et al. 2004), weight-related teasing (Ata et al.
2007), and body-related comments (McCabe et al. 2006),
compared to boys. In contrast, others have found no gender
differences in perceived parental dieting, encouragement
from parents to lose weight, and body-shape related
criticism (Meesters et al. 2007; Vincent and McCabe
2000; Wertheim et al. 2002). When parents are considered
separately, it has been suggested that daughters perceive
more maternal criticism, body-related messages and pres-
sure than sons, but do not significantly differ in the
perception of paternal pressure or criticism (Peterson et al.
2007; Baker et al. 2000). On the other hand, sons
(compared to daughters) have been reported to perceive
more eating and body shape-related attitudes and behaviors
indicating concern about appearance in their fathers (Baker
et al. 2000). A possible explanation for the inconsistencies
in the literature may be found in participants’ interpretation
of what constitutes body-related criticism, or encourage-
ment to lose weight. The use of specific measures of
perceived parental attitudes and behaviors as well as the
frequency of specific parental comments helps reduce this
effect. However, to date, gender differences have not been
explored using such measures, as studies included female-
only samples.
Previous research has reported an association between
these perceived attitudes, behaviors and messages on the
one hand, and body dissatisfaction and disordered eating
among offspring with evidence of both an influence of
active communications via parental comments (Gross and
Nelson 2000; Hanna and Bond 2006) and pressure to be
thin (Presnell et al. 2004) on the other hand. Furthermore,
concerning this association, a modeling effect of parental
attitudes and behaviors has also been demonstrated (Elfhag
and Linné 2004; Pike and Rodin 1991; Wertheim et al.
1999). Finally, these relationships have been reported even
after controlling for body mass index (BMI) which could
have figured as a confounding variable (Hanna and Bond
2006; Wertheim et al. 1999).
Parental body and eating-related criticism has shown an
association with body dissatisfaction and disordered eating
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in both genders (Peterson et al. 2007; Baker et al. 2000).
Results from a small number of studies exploring the
relationship between positive messages and body dissatis-
faction reported a negative association (Gross and Nelson
2000; Ricciardelli et al. 2000). Research on parental
comments therefore needs to take into account the valence
of the perceived comments. Parental pressure to be thin,
defined as a more global perception of the importance of
one’s thinness to one’s parents, has also been reported to be
associated with body dissatisfaction and disordered eating
(e.g. Presnell et al. 2004).
Parental modeling of body dissatisfaction and disordered
eating behaviors has also been explored. There has been
some evidence of a relationship between daughters’ levels
of body dissatisfaction and their perceptions of their
mothers’ body dissatisfaction (Keel et al. 1997), although
this relationship has not been replicated for mothers and
sons (Keery et al. 2006). Similarly, disordered eating
behaviors in offspring of both genders have been shown
to be associated with the perception of maternal disordered
eating behaviors (Vincent and McCabe 2000; Keery et al.
2006). Regarding perceived paternal attitudes and behav-
iors, only one study has explored the relationship between
offsprings’ disordered eating behaviors and their perception
of their fathers’ with results pointing to an association in
boys but not in girls (Baker et al. 2000).
A second possible reason for the gender differences
observed in the relationship between parental influences
and body dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors in
adolescents may relate to gender differences in the strength
of the association between parental attitudes and behaviors
and their offspring’s. It may be that adolescents regard their
parents as more or less reliable sources of information, or
are differently motivated to strive for the appearance their
parents encourage them to achieve, according to gender.
Again, little previous research has attempted to clarify this
question producing unclear findings. Although family
encouragement to lose weight has been shown to be more
strongly associated with eating outcomes in boys in some
studies (Fulkerson et al. 2002; Meesters et al. 2007),
another study found no such gender difference (Wertheim
et al. 2002).
A final consideration lies in the separate influence of
each parent. Previous research has tended to show that,
although both parents contribute to the development of
eating and shape-related attitudes and behaviors in their
offspring, mothers and fathers have unique contributions
and separate effects on their sons and daughters. A gender-
linked model for parental influences would account for
mothers being more influential for daughters and fathers for
sons (Wertheim et al. 1999; Wertheim et al. 1997). This first
theory has been compared to a cumulative sociocultural
model in which the combination of messages from both
parents concerning body shape and eating would be
proposed to be more strongly associated with offspring
attitudes and behaviors than the influence of either parent
alone. Although there is some evidence that both parents
contribute to the transmission of sociocultural messages
(McCabe and Ricciardelli 2003), explicit testing of this last
model has provided little experimental support either for a
cumulative model, or for a gender-linked model as mothers
tended to be more influential for sons and daughters
(Wertheim et al. 2002).
In summary, the present study aims, among a French
adolescent population, to expand the understanding of
gender differences in the perception of parental body and
eating-related attitudes, behaviors and messages, and their
influence on body dissatisfaction and disordered eating
among offspring while building upon the existing literature
in this area (McCabe et al. 2006; Peterson et al. 2007;
Wertheim et al. 1999). Given that parental influences can
take a variety of forms, we examined adolescents’
perceptions of active influences such as direct comments
about body size and shape, parental pressure, and parental
modeling. In order to consider the valence of parental
comments we explored negative and positive comments as
well as comments that emphasise appearance or establish a
comparison with others. Our first hypothesis (1) was
therefore that girls, compared to boys, would report higher
levels of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating and
would perceive more parental body and eating-related
comments, more parental pressure and more parental
modeling. Furthermore, we explored gender differences in
the variance of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating
behaviors explained by parental body and eating-related
comments, parental pressure and parental modeling, our
second hypothesis (2) being that the amount of variance
explained by these variables would be larger among girls
compared to boys. Finally, we explored the unique
contributions of mothers and fathers for sons and daughters
with our third hypothesis (3): in line with a gender-linked
model, mother variables would contribute more significant-
ly than father variables to the prediction of daughters’ body
dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors, while father
variables would contribute more significantly to the
prediction of these concerns for sons.
Method
Participants
Participants were adolescents from three co-educational
high schools in the Toulouse (France) area. The data was
carefully screened for outliers so as to avoid distortion of
the statistical analyses. Eleven outlier cases (<2%) were
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identified and excluded from the analysis. The final sample
included 221 (37%) boys of mean age 16.10 (SD=.94)
years and 380 (63%) girls of mean age 16.00 (SD=.95)
years. At the time of the study, 47% (n=282) of the
participants were in the equivalent of USA grade 10, and
53% (n=319) were in the equivalent of USA grade 11.
These grades correspond to the first 2 years of high school,
and allow students greater independence concerning meals
than previous years. Seventy nine percent of the students
were of French background, 4% north African, 4% African,
2.5% Italian, 2.5% Asian, 3% Hispanic, 2% from other
European countries and 3% of a number of other different
nationalities.
Measure
In this type of study, offspring-reported data has been
reported by a number of studies to be more strongly
associated with body shape and eating outcomes than
parent-reports (Haines et al. 2008; Kanakis and Thelen
1995; Keel et al. 1997; Keery et al. 2006). All our measures
therefore assessed adolescent self-reported perceptions of
their parents’ attitudes, behaviors and messages.
Parental Comments
Comments from parents regarding body shape and eating
were assessed via an instrument developed for the purpose
of the study. Participants were invited to rate on a five-point
scale, the frequency with which they recall each of their
parents having made a number of statements, on the
Maternal Comments Scale and the Paternal Comments
Scale. Each of the scales assesses three dimensions:
negative comments, positive comments and comparison
and importance comments (see “Appendix”).
Eleven of the items explored negative comments about
the participants’ weight, shape, eating habits and fitness, or
reinforced weight-loss; for example “If you want to look
good you need to work out more.” Five items explored
messages that conveyed positive healthy views body shape
and weight and discouraged the pursuit of thinness (adapted
from Gross and Nelson (2000)), (for example “You don’t
need to lose weight.”), and six comparison and importance
items explored comments that relate to the importance
attributed to physical appearance or refer to the shape and
weight of other people (for example “My mother com-
mented on the shape or weight of my friends.”).
The Maternal Comments Scale and Paternal Comments
Scale were subjected to a principal components factor
analysis. Examination of the scree plot confirmed the three-
factor solution proposed by the authors. The three-factor
solution explained 41% of the Maternal Comments Scale,
with eigenvalues of 5.12, 2.48 and 1.70 for the three factors
respectively, and 40% of the Paternal Comments Scale,
with eigenvalues of 5.05, 2.59 and 1.49 for the three
factors. In order to obtain parallel versions of the scale for
both parents, four items from the negative comments
subscale were deleted as they cross-loaded on other factors,
or loaded on different factors in the parallel scales. The
internal reliability (α) for each factor and scale total for the
Maternal Comments Scale and Paternal Comments Scale
were: negative comments α=.83, and α=.81; positive
comments α=.71 and α=.70; importance and comparison
comments α=.71 and α=.70.
Parental Pressure
The Parent Involvement scale (Levine et al. 1994) is a
4-item scale aiming to assess children’s perception of how
important their weight is to both of their parents, with two
items relating to mothers (maternal pressure) and 2 to
fathers (paternal pressure) rated on a three point scale. The
score is the sum of the items with higher scores indicating
greater parental pressure. In previous research this scale has
shown good internal reliability with alpha values between
.77 and .80 in samples of adolescents (Keery et al. 2004;
Levine et al. 1994), the Cronbach alpha value in the present
sample was α=.80. An example of an item is “How
important is it to your mother that you be thin?”
Parental Modeling
So as to assess participants’ views of their parents’
investment in their own physical appearance, we translated
the Mother Influence Scale (maternal modeling) (Levine et
al. 1994) and extended it so as to include a Father subscale
(paternal modeling) with corresponding items relevant to
fathers; for example “How often is your father on a diet to
lose weight?”. For both subscales, 2 of the items were rated
on a 3-point scale while the third item was rated on a six
point-scale. The scale score is the sum of the items, with
higher scores indicating higher levels of modeling. The
resulting 6-item measure has been reported to have an alpha
value of .77 (Keery et al. 2004). The alpha value for the
complete scale in the present sample was α=.70.
Body Dissatisfaction and Disordered Eating Behaviors
Participants completed three subscales of the Eating
Disorders Inventory-II (EDI-II) (Garner 1991) in its French
translation (Archinard et al. 1996), the Drive for Thinness
(EDI-DT), Bulimia (EDI-BU), and Body Dissatisfaction
(EDI-BD) subscales. This measure has been successfully
used among French students (Rodgers and Chabrol 2009a;
Rousseau et al. 2005), and clinical samples (Bizeul et al.
2001).
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The EDI-BD subscale is composed of nine items, each
rated on a 6-point scale, and assesses negative and positive
feelings directed towards specific body parts as well as the
body as a whole (for example “I think my hips are too
big”). The internal reliability of this subscale is good
among female adolescents with an alpha value of .91
(Shore and Porter 1990). In our sample we obtained an
alpha value of .86.
The EDI-DT subscale includes seven items rated on a
six point scale. It assesses preoccupation with thinness,
dieting and fear of gaining weight (for example “I think
about dieting”). The internal reliability of this scale
amongst female adolescents has been reported to be .81
(Shore and Porter 1990). The alpha value for the current
sample was .84.
The EDI-BU subscale assesses, on a similar six point
scale, the frequency of disturbed eating behaviors, (for
example “I eat moderately in front of others and stuff
myself when they are gone”). Shore and Porter (1990)
found an alpha value of .69 for this 8-item subscale, and in
the present sample alpha was of .72.
Body Mass Index (BMI)
Body Mass Index (weight/height²) was calculated from self-
reported height and weight. Self-reported data provided for
this purpose have been shown to be strongly correlated with
third-party measures (Brooks-Gunn et al. 1987).
Procedure
Participants were recruited after consent was obtained from
the schools to conduct the research. One of the authors
(RR), came to the school and invited students to participate
during their free study hours. The same researcher was
present in an allocated classroom, briefly explained the
aims of the research and handed out the questionnaires,
which the students placed in a box when they had finished
filling it in. The study was presented as relating to “family
attitudes towards appearance and eating”. All students
provided informed consent on a separate form. Six hundred
and twenty two questionnaires were distributed, of which 9
(1%) were discarded due to large amounts of missing data.
Results
Gender Differences on the Study Variables
In order to test hypothesis 1, namely that girls would report
higher levels of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating,
and perceive more parental comments, parental pressure,
and parental modeling, we conducted a multivariate
analysis of variance. There was a significant gender
difference on the combined dependent variables, F(14,
504)=13.90, p<.001; Pillai’s trace=.28. An examination of
univariate F-tests (Table 1) considering all study variables
separately (using a Bonferroni correction of alpha=.01
when equality of variance assumptions were violated)
revealed significant differences for BMI, body dissatisfac-
tion, drive for thinness, bulimia, negative maternal com-
ments, negative paternal comments, positive maternal
comments, importance and comparison maternal comments,
maternal modeling, and maternal pressure. No gender
differences were found for bulimia, positive paternal com-
ments, importance and comparison paternal comments,
paternal modeling and paternal pressure. Except for BMI,
girls scored higher on all these measures than boys did. No
significant differences between boys and girls were found
on any other parental variables.
Relations Between Parental Variables and Adolescent
Outcomes
In order to examine hypothesis 2, namely that the
association between parental variables and offspring reports
of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating would be
stronger among girls, compared to boys, we first performed
bivariate and partial correlations (controlling for BMI),
before performing a regression analysis. As reported in
Table 2, the correlations between the study variables and
the outcome EDI variables (with and without controlling
for BMI) generally displayed the expected pattern, with
negative comments and importance and comparison com-
ments positively associated with body dissatisfaction and
disordered eating. Perceptions of parental influence and
pressure were less consistently associated with the outcome
variables, in particular among boys.
Predictors of EDI-BD, EDI-DT and EDI-BU were next
examined. Parental variables and BMI were entered into a
series of stepwise regression analyses as predictors of EDI-
DB, EDI-DT and EDI-BU for boys and girls separately
(Bonferroni correction, p=.025). Multicollinearity was
tested for using the variance inflation factor (VIF). None
of the VIF values exceeded the cutoff value of 10 (Belsley
et al. 1980). As shown in Table 3, for boys, parental
variables explained 14% (13% adjusted) of the variability
in body dissatisfaction with negative paternal comments
and father modeling being unique significant predictors.
Similarly, the predictors accounted for 15% (14% adjusted)
of the variance of drive for thinness with negative maternal
comments being and paternal pressure as unique predictors.
Regarding bulimia, parental variables explained only 4%
(3% adjusted) of the variability with importance and
comparison paternal comments being the sole unique
predictor.
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Table 2 Correlations between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating and study variables with and without(bold) controlling for BMI.
BMIBody dissatisfaction Drive for thinnessBulimia
BoysGirlsBoysGirls BoysGirlsBoysGirls
Negative
maternal
comments
Negative
paternal
comments
Positive
maternal
comments
Positive
paternal
comments
Importance &
comparison
maternal
comments
Importance &
comparison
paternal
comments
Maternal
presusre
Paternal
pressure
Maternal
modeling
Paternal
modeling
.28**.38**
.29**
.25**
.45**
.39**
.36**
.34**
.44**
.42**
−.10
−.11
.40**
.40**
.24**.20**
.33**
.31**
.28**
.24**
.25**
.23**
.33**
.31**
.00
.01
.33**
.32**
−.04
−.19**
.06
.06
−.06
−.01
.17**
.18**
.00
.03
.14*
.14*
.09
.11*
.00
−23**
.05
.06
−.11**
−.05
.16*
.17*
−.01
.02
.10
.08
.09
.11*
−.12
−.06
.03
.05
.24**
.26**
.15*
.18**
.28**
.30**
.20**
.16*
.34**
.35**
−.09
−.04
.10
.11
.08
.10
.16*
.18**
.19**
.20**
.20**
.16*
.22**
.22**
−.05
−.01
.05
.05
.18**
.17**
.19**
.19**
.31**
.31**
−.08
.08
.18**
.17**
−.02 .04
.01
.00
.04
.04
.19**
.20**
.18**
.18**
.01
.01
.04
.04
.01
−.05
−.07
−.07
.15**
.17**
−.05
−.05
.25**
.26**
−.06
−.06
.22**
.22**
−.07.00
−.15*
−.15*
.01
.02
−.04
−.03
.15**
.16**
−.01
−.01
.10
.10
*p<.005, **p<.001
Table 1 Means, standard deviations and univariate F-tests according to gender.
Scale rangeª Girls BoysF value Partial eta squared
Mean SD meanSD
BMI
Body dissatisfaction
Drive for thinness
Bulimia
Negative maternal comments
Negative paternal comments
Positive maternal comments
Positive paternal comments
Importance and comparison maternal comments
Importance and comparison paternal comments
Maternal pressure
Paternal pressure
Maternal modelling
Paternal modelling
19.60
10.16
4.45
1.90
13.08
10.94
13.53
11.37
10.70
8.73
3.07
2.80
5.93
4.55
2.55
6.73
4.96
2.91
5.48
4.57
4.37
4.69
3.89
2.97
1.06
1.04
1.82
1.52
20.59
5.53
1.41
1.13
9.79
9.39
12.18
10.74
9.79
8.94
2.87
2.80
5.58
4.63
2.58
5.40
2.43
2.66
3.56
3.29
3.67
3.81
3.08
2.65
1.01
.97
1.72
1.44
F(1, 600)=20.92
F(1, 603)=76.31**
F(1, 608)=74.22**
F(1, 606)=10.55
F(1, 607)=5.60**
F(1, 602)=19.78**
F(1, 609)=15.25**
F(1, 610)=2.74
F(1, 610)=9.06*
F(1, 606)=.83
F(1, 596)=4.96*
F(1, 585)=.01
F(1, 606)=5.22*
F(1, 586)=.37
.03
.11
.11
.02
.10
.03
.02
.00
.01
.00
.01
.00
.01
.00
0–27
0–21
0–24
7–35
7–35
5–25
5–25
6–30
6–30
2–6
2–6
3–12
3–12
ªLow scores indicate low levels of the attribute described
*p<.05, **p<.001
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Forgirls,asshown inTable 4, parental variables explained
20% (19% adjusted) of the variability in body dissatisfaction
with maternal negative comments and paternal positive
comments being unique significant predictors. The predictors
accounted for 23% (22% adjusted) of the variance in drive
for thinness with negative maternal comments, maternal
modeling and maternal investment making significant con-
tributions. Regarding bulimia, the parental variables
explained 22% (21% adjusted) of the variability, with
negative paternal and maternal comments, and importance
and comparison maternal comments as unique predictors.
Unique Contributions of Each Parent
Hypothesis 3, proposed that mother variables would better
predict body dissatisfaction among girls, whereas father
variables would be better predictors among boys. In order
to test this hypothesis, we explored the unique contribution
of the influence of each parent according to gender, by
conducting a hierarchical regression for each outcome in
which the same-gender parent variables were entered first,
and the opposite-gender parent variables were entered
second. In the first regression analysis for boys, the mother
influences, entered in a single block significantly predicted
body dissatisfaction F(5, 209)=4.70, p<.001 and explained
11% (9% adjusted) of the variance. Entering the parallel
father variables in a second block, added significantly to the
explained variance, now 16% (12% adjusted), F(10, 204)=
3.89, p<.05. On the contrary when father variables were
entered as a first block, explaining 15% (13% adjusted) of
the variance, F(5, 209)=6.61, p<.001, the mother variables
in the second block failed to add significantly to the
explained variance. This procedure was repeated for girls,
and for both genders in the prediction of drive for thinness
and bulimia. The results, summarised in Table 5, show that
for boys, father variables significantly predicted body
dissatisfaction when entered both first and second, while
mother variables failed to add significantly to the explained
variance when entered second. The opposite was true for
drive for thinness with mother variables making a signif-
icant contribution to the explained variance regardless of
order of entry, and father variables failing to add signifi-
cantly to the explained variance when entered second.
Father variables failed to significantly predict bulimia
regardless of order of entry. For girls, both parents made
significant contributions to the explained variance in the
prediction of body dissatisfaction, regardless of order of
entry. For both drive for thinness and bulimia, father
variables failed to be significant predictors when entered
in the second block, whereas mother variables significantly
added to the explained variance when entered either in the
first or second block.
Discussion
The aim of this study was to shed further light on gender
differences concerning parental influences on body image
and eating concerns in adolescents. In particular, comments
from parents as well as their preoccupation with their
Table 3 Unique parental predictors for body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in boys.
Dependant variables R²FUnique predictors sr²Betatp
Body dissatisfaction .1418.13Negative patenal comments
Paternal modeling
Negative maternal comments
Paternal pressure
Importance and comparison paternal comments
.11
.02
.13
.02
.03
.35
−.15
.35
.15
.20
5.58
−2.35
5.52
2.34
2.97
<.001
<.025
<.001
<.025
<.005
Drive for thinness.15 19.63
Bulimia.048.82
Table 4 Unique parental predictors for body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in girls.
Dependant variables R²FUnique predictors sr²Betatp
Body dissatisfaction .2045.00 Negative maternal comments
Positive paternal comments
Negative maternal comments
Maternal pressure
Maternal modeling
Importance and comparison maternal comments
Negative maternal comments
Negative paternal comments
.20
.02
.11
.02
.02
.04
.02
.02
.43
−.13
.36
.14
.14
.24
.19
.17
9.16
−2.87
7.33
2.86
2.82
4.74
3.27
3.00
<.001
<.005
<.001
<.005
<.005
<.001
<.001
<.005
Drive for thinness .2336.98
Bulimia.2233.06
Sex Roles

Page 8

offspring’s weight, and perceived interest in their own
appearance were investigated. Findings of the study support
the proposal that certain gender differences exist in the
perception of parental influences and their relationship to
body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. Furthermore,
they suggest that parents make unique contributions to this
relationship according to gender.
In keeping with previous findings, and in line with our
first hypothesis (Ata et al. 2007; Presnell et al. 2004), girls
and boys differed in their perception of messages regarding
their body shape and eating behaviors from both their
mothers and fathers. Girls reported perceiving more com-
ments from their mothers regardless of the valence, and
more negative paternal comments. Furthermore, girls also
perceived their mothers (compared to their fathers) as
placing greater importance on their shape and weight. As
previously mentioned, western society places a larger
emphasis on female body shape, and creates an environ-
ment in which deviation from standards of slenderness is
seen to compromise personal achievement (Grogan 1999).
It may be that parents respond to this environment by
attributing more importance to their daughters’ appearance
than their sons’, and communicating with them to a greater
extent on the subject of body shape and weight. In line with
this hypothesis, other authors have found that girls tend to
report perceiving more general feedback about their
appearance from their parents than boys (Schwartz et al.
1999). Another possibility however, might be that girls are
more sensitive to comments regarding their physical
appearance, due to cultural context, and therefore over-
report them compared to boys because they are more
memorable for them. Their identification with their mother
might render her comments particularly important, explain-
ing why gender differences were found predominantly for
mother variables. Furthermore, the correlations between
parental variables and body dissatisfaction and disordered
eating vary little when controlling for BMI or not. This
suggests that the relationship between parental comments
and body shape and eating concerns is not an artefact of
increased body mass.
This study provides further evidence for the association
between parental influences and body dissatisfaction and
disordered eating in adolescents that has been previously
described (Field et al. 2001; Keel et al. 1997). Furthermore,
to our best knowledge, it is the first to explore the
relationship between a number of positive and negative
parental comments, body dissatisfaction and disordered
eating among both genders. For girls, parental comments
were unique predictors of body dissatisfaction and bulimia.
However, drive for thinness was also predicted by the
Dependant variable GenderOrder of entry of IVsF R²R² adjusted F change
Body dissatisfaction Girls Block 1: mother
Block 2: father
Block 1: father
Block 2: mother
Block 2: father
Block 1: mother
Block 1: father
Block 2: mother
Block 1: mother
Block 2: father
Block 2: mother
Block 1: father
Block 1: mother
Block 2: father
Block 1: father
Block 2: mother
Block 1: mother
Block 2: father
Block 2: mother
Block 1: father
Block 1: mother
Block 2 : father
Block 1: father
Block 2: mother
18.26
10.50
8.51
10.50
4.41
5.31
7.46
4.41
21.60
11.89
11.89
10.32
8.57
4.79
5.20
4.79
18.91
10.41
10.41
10.00
3.50
2.26
1.83
2.26
.21
.24
.11
.24
.16
.11
.15
.18
.24
.26
.26
.13
.17
.19
.11
.19
.22
.24
.24
.13
.08
.10
.04
.10
.20
.22
.10
.22
.12
.09
.13
.14
.23
.24
.24
.12
.15
.15
.09
.15
.21
.21
.21
.12
.06
.06
.02
.06
p<.001
p<.05
p<.001
p<.001
p<.01
p<.001
p<.001
p=.263
p<.001
p=.095
p<.001
p<.001
p<.001
p=.416
p<.001
p<.005
p<.001
p=.131
p<.001
p<.001
p=.005
p=.407
p=.108
p=.025
Boys
Drive for thinnessGirls
Boys
BulimiaGirls
Boys
Table 5 Hierarchical regressions
entering first mother variables or
father variables alternately.
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importance mothers were perceived to place on their
offspring’s weight and shape, as well as their investment
in their own appearance (overt behaviors and attitudes).
This finding is in line with previous reports of an
association between dietary restriction in daughters and
maternal dieting (Strong and Huon 1998; Wertheim et al.
2002), and highlights the importance of modeling effects on
these behaviors. It is interesting to note the seemingly
protective role played by positive paternal comments,
which emerged as a significant negative predictor of body
dissatisfaction. This result expands the previous findings of
Gross and Nelson (2000), who reported an association
between positive maternal messages and daughters’ body
dissatisfaction that accounted for only a small amount of
variance.
For boys, comments from their fathers appeared to be the
most significant predictors of body dissatisfaction, a finding
that supports those of Field et al. (2008). However, negative
comments from their mother uniquely predicted drive for
thinness. It may be that weight-loss is a more female-related
trait as opposed to other body shape modifying behaviors
that are more male-orientated. A point of particular interest
is the emergence of the perception of fathers’ interest and
efforts regarding their own shape and weight as a negative
predictor of body dissatisfaction. This would suggest
perhaps that fathers who are perceived to care about their
shape and weight, and are viewed as needing to make an
effort to maintain their figure, provide a positive compar-
ison point for their adolescent sons, who feel more satisfied
with themselves. However, this finding is at odds with
those of Baker et al. (2000), who reported a positive
association between perceived fathers’ eating attitudes and
behaviors and their sons’. Similarly, Vincent and McCabe
(2000) did not report paternal modeling as a predictor of
boys’ body dissatisfaction in their sample.
The proportion of variance in body shape and eating
concerns explained by the parental variables was larger
among girls than boys on all three measures. It would
appear that parental influences are more strongly associated
with body dissatisfaction and disordered eating among
girls, thus confirming our second hypothesis. As the
existing literature seems to report inconsistent findings
regarding gender differences in the strength of these
relationships (Baker et al. 2000; Fulkerson et al. 2002;
Schwartz et al. 1999), this is an important finding.
Furthermore, previous studies exploring this question
tended to focus on a particular form of parental pressure
such as encouragement to lose weight. The present study
explored the relationship between disordered eating and
body dissatisfaction and a variety of parental influences
that aimed to be more representative of the different
types of influences that exist within the family environ-
ment. It is interesting to note that parental influences
explained over 20% of body dissatisfaction, drive for
thinness and bulimia in our female sample. In view of
the number of other factors involved in the appearance
and development of body shape and eating concerns
(Stice 2002), this is a relatively large proportion. This
finding is in agreement with other authors’ claims that an
environment in which appearance and weight are salient
encourages eating and weight preoccupation (Haworth-
Hoeppner 2000). Furthermore, the considerable influence
of parental variables seems important in the light of the
suggestion made by other authors that parents may play
a role not only as transmitters of their own messages but
also as mediators of those emitted by other sources
of sociocultural influence such as surrounding media
(Nathanson and Botta 2003).
In line with previous reports (Gross and Nelson 2000),
mother influences appeared to contribute to a greater extent
than fathers’ to the relationship with body dissatisfaction
and disordered eating in girls. This was also the case for
disordered eating in boys. However, for boys, father
variables seemed more influential for body dissatisfaction.
These findings therefore partially support our third hypoth-
esis, and seem to provide evidence for a gender-linked
model with respect to disordered eating. However, the
results also provide some evidence for a cumulative model,
as in the prediction of body dissatisfaction in girls, both
parents seem to significantly contribute. It may be that these
models of influence are not mutually exclusive and that
both contribute. This finding is in contrast with those of the
only other study to have examined both of these models
amongst a mixed sample, and had found little evidence to
support either of them (Wertheim 2002). This previous
study however, chose to explore only encouragement to
lose weight and parental dieting in relation to offsprings’
disordered eating which might partially account for the
importance of mothers in their results.
Although the present study expands existing knowledge
on gender differences regarding parental influences on body
dissatisfaction and disordered eating, several limitations
have to be considered. The first resides in its failure to
consider parental reports of attitudes towards their own
body shape and eating behaviors and those of their
offspring. As a result, the associations reported only reflect
the participants’ views of their parents’ attitudes and
behaviors. It has been shown that parent and offspring
reports show some disparity (Haines et al. 2008; Keery et
al. 2006), possibly due to parental concerns about social
desirability or over-reporting amongst criticism-sensitive
adolescents (Baker et al. 2000). However, as previously
stated, studies have consistently reported offspring-reports
of parental behaviors to be more strongly associated with
body shape and eating outcomes than parent-reports
(Haines et al. 2008; Kanakis and Thelen 1995; Keel et al.
Sex Roles

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1997; Keery et al. 2006). Adopting the point of view of the
adolescent limits the scope of the results in terms of
conclusions to be drawn regarding parental behavior, but in
exchange focuses on the variables that demonstrate the
strongest relationships.
A second limitation lies in its restriction of body shape
and eating concerns to body dissatisfaction, drive for
thinness and bulimia. Our findings suggest that the
relationships explored in this study are stronger amongst
girls. However, it may be that our outcome variables are
more relevant to girls, and that other shape and eating
related concerns would be more applicable for boys. Future
research should aim to further explore the influences of
family, and in particular paternal, messages regarding
muscle-increase and use of food supplements for example.
Another consideration is the nature of the sample which
might influence the generalisability of the results. Although
there is some evidence of an association between sociocul-
tural pressures and body dissatisfaction and disordered
eating among French samples (Rodgers and Chabrol
2009a), to our knowledge, our study is the first to explore
parental pressures among a sample of French adolescents.
French culture has traditionnally been very orientated
towards healthy eating attitudes, however the multiplication
of fast food outlets, shifts in family structure and media
propagation of the thin-ideal have contributed to bring
attitudes and behaviors closer to those found in other
western societies. The findings of this study seem to
support the idea that cultural differences might have
affected the variables in this study, the effect was slight.
Our findings represent an important contribution to the
knowledge in this area, and although cultural differences
may undermine the generalisability of our findings, they
seem rather to indicate a levelling and growing conformity
of values. Nevertheless, these results call for replication in
other cultural settings.
An important area of future research is the longitudinal
exploration of these relationships. Although the design of
our study reveals an association between parental influen-
ces, body shape and eating concerns in offspring, it is
unable to determine causality. It is not impossible for
instance, that a mother with an adolescent daughter who
repeatedly expresses dissatisfaction with her weight and
shape might respond by making a comment when she
considers her daughter to be eating unhealthily, or encour-
age her to lose weight. Further research is needed to explore
the development of these concerns and the potential
modifications of these relationships over time.
It might also be of interest to explore traits and attitudes
that might act as protective- or risk- factors relative to a
highly critical family environment with an emphasis on the
importance of appearance. It has been suggested for
example that, among girls, proneness to anxiety may
increase vulnerability to family influences (Davis et al.
2004). It is not unlikely that other individual characteristics
may play a similar role. In view of the stronger effect of
family influences as they are perceived by offspring, it
would appear relevant to explore individual attributes that
moderate vulnerability as well as investigating the effects of
changes in family environment.
A final area of future research is the further investi-
gation of the role of siblings. It has been suggested that
sisters are important modeling agents, and play a role in
the appearance of body dissatisfaction and disordered
eating among their siblings (Coomber and King 2008).
However, a longitudinal investigation reported no evi-
dence of a relationship between younger and older
sibling’s eating behaviors (de Leeuwe et al. 2007). The
contributions of siblings to the family environment in
terms of eating attitudes and behaviors require further
elucidation.
In response to the questions the present study aimed to
address it would appear from our findings that gender
differences are to be found at different levels in the
relationship between parental influences and body shape
and eating concerns among their offspring. Differences lie
firstly in the perception of these influences and secondly in
the strength of their association with shape and weight
outcomes. These findings support the theory that
appearance-orientated family environments promote body
shape and eating concerns. Families should consider the
type of environment they provide for their adolescent
offspring and be aware of their influence concerning body
shape and eating concerns.
Appendix
Parental Comments Questionnaire
Negative comments
“Tu devrais perdre du poids”
“You need to lose weight”
“Ton physique est très bien, mais tu serais encore
mieux si tu perdais un peu de poids.”
“You look great, but you could look even better if you
lost some weight”
“On dirait que tu as pris du poids, tu devrais faire
attention à ce que tu manges.”
“You look like you’ve put on weight, you should watch
what you eat.”
“Si tu veux avoir un beau corps il faut faire plus de
sport”
“If you want to look good you need to work out more”
Sex Roles

Page 11

“ Si tu manges ça tu vas grossir”
“ If you eat that you’ll get fat”
“ Pour moi ce n’est pas important, mais toi tu te
sentirais mieux si tu perdais un peu de poids”.
“Your figure is not important to me, but you would feel
better if you lost some weight.
“Tu as perdu un peu de poids non? Tu es très bien
comme ça.”
“You look great, you must have lost weight!”
Positive comments
“C’est pas grave si tu prends un peu de poids, ne
t’inquiète pas.”
“It’s ok if you put on some weight, don’t worry about it.”
“Tu es toujours très belle/beau.”
“You always look wonderful.”
“Il faut prendre soin de manger suffisamment pendant
la croissance. ”
“You need to make sure you eat enough while you’re still
growing”
“Tu n’as pas besoin de perdre de poids.”
“You don’t need to lose weight.”
“C’est ta santé qui compte, pas ton poids”.
“You health is what is important not your weight.”
Importance and comparison comments:
Ma mère m’a dit: “Tu n’as pas besoin de perdre de
poids” mais a fait des commentaires sur le poids et le
physique de personnes plus minces que moi.
My mother has said to me : “You don’t need to lose
weight.”, but made comments about the weight and
shape of people who weighed less than me.
Ma mère a fait un commentaire sur le poids ou le
physique des personnages à la télévision, dans les
magazines, etc...
My mother commented on the shape or weight of people
on TV, in magazines etc…
Ma mère a fait un commentaire sur le poids ou le
physique de mes ami(e)s.
My mother commented on the shape or weight of my
friends.
Ma mère a comparé mon poids ou mon physique à
celui de mes frères et soeurs.
My mother compared my shape or weight to my
siblings’.
Ma mère a comparé mon poids ou mon physique à
celui de mes ami(e)s de même sexe.
My mother compared my shape and weight to my same-
sex friends’ shape and weight.
Aux yeux de ma mère, je suis toujours trop maigre ou
pas assez mince, mais jamais bien.
In my mother’s eyes, I’m always too thin or not thin
enough, never just right.
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