The effects of parental feeding styles, children’s self-efficacy and social anxiety on adolescent obesity

ABSTRACT Objective To examine the effect of parental feeding styles and children’s self-efficacy and social anxiety on adolescent obesity. Methods The samples of this descriptive and cross-sectional study were collected by using a simple sampling method. The study group was composed of 649 Turkish secondary schools students and their parents. Three secondary schools were selected from both rural and urban areas of the province. Data of the study were collected with the child-parent socio-demographic data collection form, the parenting feeding style questionnaire, the middle school self-efficacy scale and the social anxiety scale for the adolescent. To analyze the data of the study, we used percentages, mean, correlation, and regression analysis. Results The average age of the students was 11.58+1.21 years and percentages of female students 55.0%. The factors that significantly affect male adolescent obesity were fear of social situations in general, interpersonal relations, preventive healthcare self-efficacy, and strict dietary control, respectively. The factors affect male adolescent obesity at the rate of 35.0%. The factors that significantly affect female adolescent obesity were fear of social situations in general, preventive healthcare self-efficacy, emotional feeding, social evasion and distress in new situations, and tolerant dietary control, respectively. These factors affect female adolescent obesity at the rate of 32.8%. Conclusion It is indicated that the obesity of children is affected by self-efficacy levels, social anxiety, and the parental feeding style.