Parental teasing and criticism fuel body image issues later in life

By Hugo Francisco de SouzaReviewed by Lauren HardakerOct 8 2025

New research reveals that parents’ verbal remarks about weight can leave a deeper and longer-lasting mark on their children’s self-image than the dieting behaviors they model, showing the lasting power of words in shaping body image.

Study: Direct and Indirect Parental Influences on Body Image Dissatisfaction in Adult Offspring. Image credit: aslysun/Shutterstock.com

In a recent study in Early Intervention in Psychiatry, researchers retrospectively examined the influences of parental factors on subsequent body image dissatisfaction outcomes in their adult children. The study used a cohort of 177 participants and, after controlling for peer and media pressures, found that parental influences were significant predictors of offspring's body dissatisfaction.

Notably, the study revealed that these effects (parental influences) were driven almost entirely by 'direct' influences (weight-related teasing and comments), while indirect influences like parental dieting (parental example) had no statistically significant impact. The authors caution that this may reflect recall or developmental timing limitations rather than a true absence of effect.

Background

A growing body of clinical and psychiatric research highlights negative body image as one of the strongest predictors of eating disorder symptoms, often emerging during the critical developmental window of adolescence. As efforts to combat eating disorders continue, family dynamics are increasingly recognized as a socializing force in the development of body image.

Parental influences are considered key determinants of a child's future attitudes towards their body image. These influences are thought to work through two main pathways: "Direct influence" refers to explicit, verbal communication, such as teasing a child about their weight, making negative comments about their appearance, or overtly encouraging them to diet. "Indirect influence," in contrast, involves modelling behaviours such as when a child observes a parent who is dissatisfied with their own body, frequently diets, or expresses anxiety about food.

While both pathways are considered contributors to a child's body image, previous research has not clearly defined their relative contributions, making it challenging to inform public health efforts aimed at addressing eating disorders through early body image interventions.

About the study

The present study addresses this gap by exploring the relative impact of direct and indirect parental influences on children's body image. The study used a retrospective cohort comprising 270 Australian adults, which was reduced to a final sample of 177 participants (88.1% female) aged 18 to 82 years following screening.

Study participants were required to complete an online survey that collected reflective notes on their experiences during childhood and adolescence. The survey included the Parental Influence Questionnaire (PIQ), which measures the extent of both direct (e.g., "my parents made negative comments about my physical appearance") and indirect (e.g., "my parents complained about their weight") parental influences. Furthermore, the survey collected participants' sociodemographic, dietary, and medical health records for statistical model adjustments.

Participants' current body image dissatisfaction was assessed using the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) shape and weight concern subscales. Hierarchical linear regression models were used to estimate the influence of parental factors on offspring's body image outcomes and compute the relative contributions of direct versus indirect parental influences on these outcomes.

Study findings

The study identified parental influences as robust predictors of offspring's body image dissatisfaction during adulthood. These findings remained notably significant despite accounting and correcting for participants' peer- and media-associated exposures. Specifically, in hierarchical linear regression models, including parental influence was sufficient to explain an additional 9.1% of the variance in offspring body dissatisfaction (p < 0.001), over and above all other investigated factors.

Hierarchical linear regression models further revealed that direct parental influence (criticism, teasing, and encouragement to diet) was a highly significant predictor of adult body image dissatisfaction (β = 0.330, p < 0.001). Contrastingly, indirect parental influence (observing a parent's body dissatisfaction or dieting behaviors) demonstrated no statistically significant effect (β = -0.011, p = 0.899).

These findings suggest that the explicit, verbal messages (or instructions) a child receives from their parents about their weight and appearance have a far more potent and lasting impact on their body image (even into adulthood) than the unspoken behaviors they witness in their parents.

However, the authors note that indirect influences may play a stronger role earlier in development or in interaction with direct parental comments, highlighting the need for more longitudinal research.

Conclusions

The present study highlights that parents' instructions and verbal communication may matter more than their actions when aiming to promote positive psychological attributes such as body image in children. Negative statements or even "harmless teasing" about a child's weight may have a profound and lifelong impact on their body image, and in turn, expose them to the physiological dangers of eating disorders.

Unexpectedly, the study suggests that while a parent's struggles with body image and dieting may seem influential, these modeled behaviors appear to have a negligible independent effect on their offspring's body image. The researchers emphasize, however, that this conclusion should be interpreted cautiously due to the study’s cross-sectional, retrospective design, which does not allow for causal inferences and may be affected by recall bias.

They also acknowledge that the predominantly female sample (88%) limits generalizability to males or gender-diverse populations, and that subtle parental behaviors might be underrepresented in retrospective reports.

These findings together show the need for educational programs that help parents understand their words' substantial and lasting impact on their children. By encouraging parents to focus on reinforcing positive, health-oriented behaviors rather than making critical comments about weight or appearance, public health agencies may be able to reduce the risk of body image dissatisfaction and, by extension, the development of eating disorders in future generations.

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