Cross-Generational Similarities Between Mothers' and Daughters' Abnormal Eating Behaviors

• Main Author: Bushman, Kimberly K.
• Format: Others
• Published: DigitalCommons@USU 1995
• Subjects: cross-generation; mother; daughter; abnormal eating behavior; Psychology
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/6088; https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7158&context=etd

This study was an investigation of the similarities and differences between mothers' and daughters' self-reported eating and dieting behavior. Also investigated was actual eating behaviors of mothers and daughters after consuming a milk shake preload presented as containing the caloric equivalents of one average meal. Thirty-five mothers and their sixth-grade daughters completed a series of self-report instruments including the Bulimia Test-Revised, the Revised Dietary Restraint Scale, and the Anorexia-Bulimia Inventory. Subjects then individually completed a contrived ice cream taste test, which involved consuming a milk shake preload prior to tasting vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream. The relationship between mothers' and daughters' grams of ice cream consumed was negligible. However, several noteworthy relationships were found between mothers' and daughters' self-report indices. Results are discussed in terms of a modeling hypothesis for abnormal eating patterns.