• Posted October 6, 2025

Overeating A Sign Of Early Mental Health Problems Among Preschooler Girls

Preschoolers who regularly overeat are likely swallowing their emotions as well, a new study says.

Girls who overeat as preschoolers are more likely to develop anxiety, impulsivity and hyperactivity when they grow into teenagers, researchers reported in the journal BMC Pediatrics.

The results indicate that children’s eating patterns could be early signs of mental health challenges, researchers said.

“Occasional overeating is normal, but if a child frequently overeats, it can be a sign of emotional struggles,” senior researcher Linda Booij, a professor of psychiatry at McGill University in Quebec, Canada, said in a news release.

For the new study, researchers followed more than 2,000 Quebec children from early childhood through age 15.

Researchers found three patterns of overeating in preschoolers: 60% never overate; 14% started overeating between 2 and 4 years of age; and 26% overate starting around age 4.

Girls, but not boys, who started overeating at a young age were more likely than those who weren't overeaters to report anxiety, hyperactivity and impulsivity by age 15, results show.

“It could be that parents may sometimes monitor girls’ eating more closely than boys’, and restrictive environments could be linked to increased risk of disordered eating later in life,” Booij said. “The social context around girls’ eating habits may partly explain why overeating is linked with later difficulties for them.”

In fact, dietary restriction is not the answer for helping these potentially troubled young girls, Booij said.

“Strict control can make things worse and even increase the risk of disordered eating,” Booij said. “Instead, parents and caregivers should also pay attention to children’s emotional well-being.”

The researchers also looked at picky eating, but found no connection with later mental health problems as a teenager.

While many parents worry about picky eating, it’s often a common developmental phase that doesn’t necessarily signal later mental or emotional problems, Booij said.

However, if picky eating persists over time, it might become a cause for concern, particularly if it interferes with a child’s growth, nutrition or daily functioning, Booij said.

More information

Nationwide Children’s Hospital has more on compulsive overeating.

SOURCE: McGill University, news release, Sept. 29, 2025