Abstract
Research findings suggest parent weight-talk is associated with negative health outcomes among youth, and weight must be discussed with caution. Yet, it remains unclear the extent to which different approaches to weight-talk affect different health-related outcomes. The objective of this systematic review is to characterize varying parent weight-talk approaches with respect to adolescent health-related and psychosocial outcomes and to identify methodological shortcomings in this body of literature. Included articles were published between January 2010 and January 2020, included adolescents ages 11–18, addressed weight-talk between parents and adolescents, and excluded clinical populations (e.g., eating disorder diagnosis, bariatric and/or diabetic population). A systematic search of three databases and a hand search of two peer-reviewed journals resulted in 16 articles meeting inclusion criteria. While findings remain preliminary, the research indicates that overall health-based conversations are more productive and cause less harmful consequences than overt conversations about adolescent weight. The findings also demonstrate that research lacks dyadic data between parents and adolescents for weight-talk, fathers are underrepresented in this research, and adolescent preferences/perceptions of comments and discussions with parents remain unknown. More research is needed to examine different types of weight-talk between parents and adolescents and health outcomes associated with engaging in such conversations and/or comments.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Victoria Garman, an undergraduate research assistant at the University of Florida, for assisting with screening and identifying articles for eligibility. Preregistration This review is registered with National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) international prospective register of systematic reviews (PROSPERO). ID CRD42020183971.
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This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
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JY conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, and drafted the manuscript; YB participated in screening articles for eligibility; JD and MC participated in the study design and process and reviewed drafts of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Dr. Cardel has conducted paid consulting for WW and has consulted for NovoNordisk but did not accept personal fees for these services.
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Yourell, J.L., Doty, J.L., Beauplan, Y. et al. Weight-Talk Between Parents and Adolescents: A Systematic Review of Relationships with Health-Related and Psychosocial Outcomes. Adolescent Res Rev 6, 409–424 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-021-00149-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-021-00149-2