Maternal Symptoms of Stress, Depression, and Anxiety Are Related to Nonresponsive Feeding Styles in a Statewide Sample of WIC Participants
Open accessAbstract
Parenting, including nonresponsive feeding styles, has been related to under- or overweight among young children. The relationship between maternal mental health and feeding styles has not been examined. We hypothesized that mothers who report more symptoms of stress, depression, or anxiety report less responsive (e.g. more controlling, indulgent, and uninvolved) feeding styles than mothers who report fewer symptoms of stress, depression, or anxiety. Our analyses included 702 mother-infant pairs from a statewide sample of Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children mothers. We assessed maternal mental health and feeding styles by a telephone survey. After adjusting for potential confounding variables, maternal stress symptomatology was significantly associated with forceful (beta = 0.03; 95% CI = 0.02, 0.05) and uninvolved (OR = 1.4; 95% CI = 1.1, 1.7) feeding style scores, maternal depression symptomatology was significantly associated with forceful (beta = 0.03; 95% CI = 0.004, 0.05), indulgent (beta = 0.03; 95% CI = 0.004, 0.06), and uninvolved (OR = 1.5; 95% CI = 1.001, 2.2) feeding styles scores, and maternal anxiety symptomatology was significantly related to restrictive (beta = 0.11; 95% CI = 0.01, 0.21), forceful (beta = 0.04; 95% CI = 0.02, 0.06), and uninvolved (OR = 1.4; 95% CI = 1.01, 1.9) feeding style scores. Among mothers who perceived their infant as temperamentally fussy, there was a significant positive relationship between restrictive feeding styles scores and 3 indices of maternal mental health (stress, beta = 0.18; 95% CI = 0.07, 0.28; depression, beta = 0.21; 95% CI = 0.04, 0.38; and cumulative mental health symptomatology, beta = 0.29; 95% CI = 0.10, 0.48). Mothers who report stress, depression, or anxiety symptoms are at risk for nonresponsive feeding styles. These findings provide support for broadening the focus of existing child nutrition programs to include strategies that recognize how issues of maternal mental health can affect feeding styles.
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Parents exposed to early undernutrition may demonstrate altered feeding-related regulation behaviors, suggesting interaction between metabolic stress history and caregiving patterns.
“Parents exposed to early undernutrition may also demonstrate altered feeding-related regulation behaviors, suggesting interaction between metabolic stress history and caregiving patterns (76).”
From Epigenetic changes associated with multi-generational trauma: characterization, mechanisms, and therapeutics (2026) · cites this paper as [76]
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- Authors
- Hurley, K. M., Black, M. M., Papas, M. A., & Caufield, L. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Maryland, Baltimore (US)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hurley, Kristen M.
- Venue
- The Journal of Nutrition
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2008-04
- Volume
- 138
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 799-805
- ISSN
- 0022-3166 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3137941
- OpenAlex
- W1954492793
- Cited by
- 212
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 18
- FWCI
- 4.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Nutrition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Johns Hopkins University
- Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD056099)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Keywords
- maternal mental health, maternal stress, maternal depression, maternal anxiety, restrictive feeding, infant temperament, childhood overweight, underweight children, mother-infant dyads, infant feeding practices, maternal mental health screening
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anxiety, Depression, Feeding Behavior, Female, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Maternal Behavior, Mental Health, Mother-Child Relations, Stress, Physiological, Odds Ratio
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