A controlling feeding style is associated with difficulty in children's food regulation, which is linked to later weight gain (Johnson & Birch, 1994). Survey data from Early Head Start (n = 119) families of 36-month old children was used to investigate the relations between maternal feeding practices, maternal depressive symptoms, and child aggression and BMI. Bivariate correlations revealed a negative correlation between maternal depressive symptoms and meal patterns, and a positive correlation between maternal depressive symptoms and child aggression. This is the first known study to report an association between symptoms of depression and meal patterns, which is suggestive of depressed mothers' difficulty in healthy meal planning for themselves and their children. Future work should confirm this association with older children and identify whether or not it is linked to child overweight.
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