Effects of social exclusion and maternal rejection on Children's high-caloric food consumption

Abstract

Research has shown that the quality of interpersonal relationships plays an important role in influencing childhood obesity-risk behavior. However, studies conducted so far have focused mostly on self-report data. But they rarely control for the effect of experimentally-induced social rejection or perceived maternal rejection. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the quality of the maternal relationships as well as experimentally-induced social rejection on children's motivation to consume high-caloric food. Eighty children (8–12 years of age) and their mothers participated in an experimental study. Participants were randomly assigned to a social inclusion (acceptance) or exclusion (rejection) condition in a computer-based ball-toss game (Cyberball). After completing the Cyberball game, children were presented with high-caloric food and were evaluated on the amount of the food they consumed. Participants also completed a self-report questionnaire assessing their perceptions of their mothers' acceptance-rejection. Further, mothers' Body Mass Index (BMI) was measured, and a semi-structured interview was conducted to assess the tendency of mothers to regulate their child's stress with food. Results showed that the consumption of high-caloric food was directly influenced by the children's perceptions of maternal acceptance-rejection, and by the experience of brief, experimentally-induced social exclusion (rejection). Additionally, children's consumption of high-caloric food was related to their mothers' use of food to help regulate children's distress, and by the children's own BMI. The results document the importance of affective-relational experiences in the development of childhood obesity. The results also highlight the apparent fact that regardless of individual and family characteristics, the experience of even short-term social rejection can activate obesity-risk behaviors which deplete children's self-regulatory mechanisms, thereby resulting in more consumption of high-caloric food.