The mediating role of eating psychopathology in the relationship between unhealthy core beliefs and feeding difficulties in a nonclinical group

Objective: To determine whether maternal eating psychopathology mediates the relationship between unhealthy core beliefs and reports of child feeding difficulties. Method: A community sample of 114 mothers of 65 male children and 49 female children between 4 months and 5 years completed the Eating Disorders Inventory-11, (Garner, Eating Disorder Inventory-2 Professional Manual, Odessa, 1991) the Child Feeding Assessment Questionnaire, (Harris and Booth, Monographs in Clinical Pediatrics, Vol 5, 1992) and the Young Schema Questionnaire (Short Form) (Young, Young's Schema Questionnaire: Short Form, Available in electronic form at, http://www.schematherapy.com, 1998). Results: Drive for thinness significantly mediated the relationship between maternal defectiveness/shame beliefs and food refusal in mothers of daughters, but no mediational relationships were found for mothers of sons in this nonclinical group. Conclusion: Maternal drive for thinness mediates the effect of unhealthy beliefs on mothers' tendencies to report feeding difficulties in their daughters.