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Patterns of perceived parenting styles and associations with night eating syndrome symptoms and correlates among Chinese adolescents: a latent profile analysis

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aimed to explore the association between the patterns of perceived parenting styles and adolescents’ night eating syndrome symptoms and correlates, including sleep quality, weight status, loss of control over eating, and psychological distress.

Methods

A sample of 455 Chinese adolescents (54.5% females, aged 12–15 years) were included in the current study. Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was adopted to examine the patterns of perceived parenting styles. The three-step approach was used to explore the differences in night eating syndrome symptoms and correlates between different profiles.

Results

A four-profile solution was found to fit the data best, and the four profiles were labeled as positive parenting, negative parenting, highly engaged parenting, and lowly engaged parenting. Subsequent analyses showed that adolescents across profiles exhibited significant differences in night eating syndrome symptoms and correlates. Specifically, adolescents in the positive parenting profile generally had the lowest scores in night eating and its correlates, while those in the negative parenting group reported the highest scores in night eating and its correlates.

Conclusion

Using a person-centered approach (i.e., LPA), the present study identified four distinct patterns of perceived parenting styles in a sample of Chinese adolescents, with night eating and related symptomatology differing across each profile. Future interventions targeting night eating among adolescents may consider the potential influence from the patterns of perceived parenting styles to have a better intervention outcome.

Level of evidence

Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study

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Data availability

The datasets used during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Dr. Marita Cooper (Eating Disorders Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University) for her help with language editing.

Funding

This research was partially supported by the Presidential Fund of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, to Jinbo He (Grant Number: PF.01.001428) and the Shenzhen 2020 Education Science Planning Issues (Grant Number: ybfz20058). This research was also supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China on Education Research Project for Young Scholars (CLA160199) to Gui Chen (Grant Number: CLA160199).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Humanities and Social Science, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, 518172, Guangdong, China

    Jinbo He & Jianwen Song

  2. College of Educational Science, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang, 421002, Hunan, China

    Gui Chen

  3. School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei, China

    Zhihui Cai

  4. School of Mathematics and Statistics, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo, Shandong, China

    Ruiling Niu

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  1. Jinbo He
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Contributions

J.H. led the study design and drafted the manuscript. J.S. helped draft and revise the manuscript. G.C. performed the statistical analysis and helped draft the manuscript. Z.C. helped draft the manuscript. R.N. helped perform the statistical analysis and draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Gui Chen.

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The current study was approved by the institutional review boards of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Central China Normal University.

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He, J., Song, J., Chen, G. et al. Patterns of perceived parenting styles and associations with night eating syndrome symptoms and correlates among Chinese adolescents: a latent profile analysis. Eat Weight Disord 27, 1001–1010 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-021-01265-7

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