Understanding the Intersection of Childhood Obesity, Eating Behaviors and Traumatic Experiences

Dear Colleagues,

Childhood obesity has emerged as a significant public health challenge globally, with multifaceted causes and consequences that extend into adulthood. While dietary habits, physical activity, genetic predispositions, and socioeconomic factors are well-recognized contributors, emerging research has highlighted the profound impact of psychological factors, particularly relational experiences, on the development and exacerbation of obesity in children.

Eating behaviors, especially in childhood and adolescence, are strongly influenced by the quality of one’s relationships with attachment figures. A parental (and particularly maternal) intrusive or disengaged feeding style has, for instance, been associated with very low or very high BMI, undereating or overeating.

Children who experience poor relationships with their caregivers and with their peers may turn to food as a source of comfort, leading to patterns of overeating or binge eating. This Special Issue seeks to bring together a diverse array of studies and perspectives to shed light on the ways in which trauma impacts childhood obesity and to explore effective strategies for intervention and prevention.

Submissions are encouraged to focus on (but are not limited to) the following areas:

• Psychological mechanisms linking relational experiences to maladaptive eating behaviors and obesity in childhood.
• The role of family and society in one’s relationship with obesity.
• The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on childhood obesity and mental health.
• Neurobiological perspectives on how relational experiences influence obesity-related pathways in children.

Dr. Silvia Cimino
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.