Obesity is a growing problem in the United States, which makes it more important than ever to understand what factors might impact a child's likelihood of developing this condition. Now, researchers have discovered that parents can play a huge role in their child's risk for obesity, revealing that it may be possible to help stop the tide of obesity through parent behavior.

"If your mother regularly punished or dismissed your anger, anxiety or sadness instead of being sensitive to your distress and giving you strategies for handling those feelings, you may be insecurely attached and parenting your children in the same way," said Kelly Bost, one of the researchers, in a news release. "A child who doesn't learn to regulate his emotions may in turn develop eating patterns that put him at risk for obesity."

In order to better assess how parents could impact their children's risk of becoming obese, the researchers examined primary caregivers of 2 ½ to 3 1/2 -year-old children. These caregivers completed a questionnaire in order to determine adult attachment, answering 32 questions about the nature of their relationships.

"The study found that insecure parents were significantly more likely to respond to their children's distress by becoming distressed themselves or dismissing their child's emotion," said Bost in a news release. "For example, if a child went to a birthday party and was upset because of a friend's comment there, a dismissive parent might tell the child not to be sad, to forget about it. Or the parent might even say: Stop crying and acting like a baby or you're never going over again."

It's not just about the relationship between children and parents, though. It's the effect that this relationship can have on a child. The researchers found that the pattern of punishing or dismissing a child's sad or angry emotions was significantly related not only to comfort feeding but also to fewer family mealtimes and more TV viewing. This, in turn, led to children's unhealthy eating.

"In fighting childhood obesity, one of the most important lessons we can teach children is to eat when they're hungry and recognize when they're full," said Bost. "We want to encourage children to respond to their internal cues and encourage parents not to promote eating under stress or eating to soothe."

The findings are published in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics.