Mothers and Fathers with Binge Eating Disorder and Their 18–36 Months Old Children: A Longitudinal Study on Parent–Infant Interactions and Offspring’s Emotional–Behavioral Profiles

Maternal Binge Eating Disorder (BED) has been suggested to be associated with poor parent–infant interactions during feeding and with children’s emotional and behavioral problems during infancy (Blissett and Haycraft, 2011). The role of fathers has received increasing consideration in recent years, yet the research has not focused on interactional patterns between fathers with BED and their children. The present study aimed to longitudinally investigate the influence of BED diagnosis, in one or both parents, on parent–infant feeding interactions and on children’s emotional–behavioral functioning. 612 subjects (408 parents; 204 children), recruited in mental health services and pre-schools in Central Italy, were divided into four groups: Group 1 included families with both parents diagnosed with BED, Group 2 and 3 included families with one parent diagnosed with BED, Group 0 was a healthy control. The assessment took place at T1 (18 months of age of children) and T2 (36 months of age of children): feeding interactions were assessed through the Scale for the Assessment of Feeding Interactions (SVIA) while child emotional–behavioral functioning was evaluated with the Child Behavior Check-List (CBCL). When compared to healthy controls, the groups with one or both parents diagnosed with BED showed higher scores on the SVIA and on the CBCL internalizing and externalizing scales, indicating poorer adult–child feeding interactions and higher emotional–behavioral difficulties. A direct influence of parental psychiatric diagnosis on the quality of mother–infant and father–infant interactions was also found, both at T1 and T2. Moreover, dyadic feeding interactions mediated the influence of parental diagnosis on children’s psychological functioning. The presence of BED diagnosis in one or both parents seems to influence the severity of maladaptive parent–infant exchanges during feeding and offspring’s emotional–behavioral problems over time, consequently affecting different areas of children’s psychological functioning. This is the first study to demonstrate the specific effects of maternal and paternal BED on infant development. These results could inform prevention and intervention programs in families with one or both parents diagnosed with BED.