Differences in eating styles between overweight and normal-weight youngsters were investigated with a child version of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ). Subjects were children (n=1458; M: 10.1; SD=1.3) and adolescents (n=1016; M: 14.9; SD=1.5). Overweight adolescent girls scored high on emotional eating while overweight adolescent boys displayed more external eating. In overweight children, already 10.5 per cent displayed emotional eating and 38.4 per cent reported external eating. All overweight youngsters reported restrained attitudes. Eating styles were positively associated with indicators of eating pathology. The results suggest the use of appropriate norms that take into account the child's age, gender and overweight status.

The current study investigated loss of control (LC) over eating and the role of anxiety, depression and emotional eating in a sample of both treatment seeking (N = 115) and non-treatment seeking (N = 73) overweight youngsters (aged 8-18) using a semi-structured clinical interview and self-report questionnaires. It was found that treatment seekers reported twice as much LC (40%) compared to non-treatment seekers (21%). Cross-sectional prediction models indicated that increased anxiety was associated with emotional eating and LC. Emotional eating tended to mediate the relationship between anxiety and LC. Increased depression was associated with emotional eating but not with LC. Especially overweight treatment seekers turn out to be at risk for LC. Because LC may develop as a result of inadequate coping with negative emotions like anxiety, obesity treatment should focus on teaching more effective coping strategies. Longitudinal research is recommended to further elaborate affect regulation and LC.

A subgroup of overweight children appears to have a stronger tendency to act on impulse than normal weight children, and demonstrated an impulsivity prone personality. Hence, overweight children should be screened for impulse control deficiencies. More research is needed to clear out the robustness of gender differences, the existence of a specific personality profile and possibly common underlying mechanisms of childhood obesity and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Introduction: The present article reports on two studies that investigated the utility of Young's cognitive theory (Young, Klosko, & Weishaar, 2003) Conclusion: Young's schema theory might constitute a valuable framework to understand psychopathology in youth.

This study investigated whether early maladaptive schemas can explain the relation between attachment anxiety and avoidance dimensions and symptoms of psychopathology. For this purpose, 289 Flemish, Dutch-speaking, late adolescents participated on a questionnaire study. Using a non-parametric re-sampling approach, we investigated whether the association between attachment and psychopathology was mediated by early maladaptive schemas. Results indicate that the association between attachment anxiety and psychopathology is fully mediated by cognitions regarding rejection and disconnection and other-directedness. The association between attachment avoidance and psychopathology is partly mediated by cognitions regarding rejection and disconnection.