The Moderating Effects of Gender on Paternal Encouragement to Diet and Body Dissatisfaction in Youth

Abstract

The current study examines the relationship between child weight, father encouragement to diet (ETD), and child body dissatisfaction moderated by child gender. Participants were 96 youths (53% female), aged 8–17 attending a primary care appointment. Higher child weight status and greater father ETD predicted greater body dissatisfaction. Child gender moderated this relationship such that BMI-z significantly predicted body dissatisfaction in girls regardless of father ETD; however, BMI-z was only a significant predictor of body dissatisfaction in boys only when father ETD was high. The model explained 41% of the variance in body dissatisfaction.