Caregiver Influences on Eating Behaviors in Young Children (original) (raw)
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Effects of children's self-regulation of eating on parental feeding practices and child weight
Appetite
The purpose of this study was to determine whether self-regulation of eating in minority preschool-aged children mediates the relationship between parent feeding practices and child weight. Participants were 299 low-income African American and Hispanic parents and their preschool-aged children who participated in Head Start. Parents completed questionnaires about controlling feeding practices (pressure to eat, restriction) and children's appetitive characteristics (enjoyment of food, food responsiveness, satiety responsiveness). Path analyses were used to determine whether children's self-regulation of eating mediated the relationship between feeding practices and child weight. Greater satiety responsiveness in African American preschool-age children partially mediated the inverse association between pressure to eat and children's weight, B (SE) = -0.073 (0.036), p < .05. Enjoyment of food and food responsiveness did not mediate the relationship between pressure to ea...
Appetite, 2005
This research tested the associations between caregiver feeding styles and children's food consumption patterns among African-American (AA) and Hispanic (H) caregivers and their preschool children. Participants were 231 caregivers (101 AA; 130 H) with children enrolled in Head Start. Caregivers completed questionnaires on authoritarian and authoritative feeding styles (Caregiver's Feeding Styles Questionnaire; CFSQ) and various aspects of children's food consumption patterns (availability of, feeding attempts for, and child's consumption of dairy, fruit, and vegetables). Simultaneous multiple regression analyses tested the unique contribution of feeding styles in predicting food consumption patterns. Authoritative feeding was positively associated whereas authoritarian feeding was negatively associated with the availability of fruit and vegetables. Authoritative feeding was also positively associated with attempts to get the child to eat dairy, fruit, and vegetables, and reported child consumption of dairy and vegetables. Authoritarian feeding was negatively associated with child's vegetable consumption. All results remained significant after controlling for child's gender and body mass index (BMI), and caregiver's ethnicity, BMI, and level of education. Overall, results provide evidence for the benefits of authoritative feeding and suggest that interventions to increase children's consumption of dairy, fruit, and vegetables should be targeted toward increasing caregivers' authoritative feeding behaviors. q
The American journal of clinical nutrition, 2015
Emotional eating in children has been related to the consumption of energy-dense foods and obesity, but the development of emotional eating in young children is poorly understood. We evaluated whether emotional eating can be induced in 5-7-y-old children in the laboratory and assessed whether parental use of overly controlling feeding practices at 3-5 y of age predicts a greater subsequent tendency for children to eat under conditions of mild stress at ages 5-7 y. Forty-one parent-child dyads were recruited to participate in this longitudinal study, which involved parents and children being observed consuming a standard lunch, completing questionnaire measures of parental feeding practices, participating in a research procedure to induce child emotion (or a control procedure), and observing children's consumption of snack foods. Children at ages 5-7 y who were exposed to a mild emotional stressor consumed significantly more calories from snack foods in the absence of hunger than...
The Impact of Child Care Providers??? Feeding on Children???s Food Consumption
Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 2007
In young children, the eating environment is an important social context within which eating behaviors develop. Among many low-income young children, the responsibility for feeding may have shifted from family members to child care providers because these children spend the majority of their day in child care settings. To examine the influence of feeding among low-income children in child care settings, feeding behaviors of child care providers in Head Start were observed and food consumption was assessed. Head Start, a comprehensive child development program that serves children from ages 3 to 5, was chosen because of the large percentage of minorities, the low-income status of the families, and the age of the children. Fifty child care providers (25 African-American; 25 Hispanic) randomly selected from Head Start centers in a large, urban southwestern city were observed on three mealtime occasions and self-reported feeding styles were assessed. Observed feeding behaviors were categorized into four feeding patterns based on their conceptual similarity to a general parenting typology (i.e., authoritarian, authoritative, indulgent, and uninvolved). Measures of food consumption were assessed on 549 children sitting with the child care providers during lunch at the Head Start centers. Indulgent feeding behaviors were positively related to children's consumption of vegetables, dairy, entrees, and starches; authoritative feeding behaviors were positively related to dairy consumption. This research highlights the important influence that child care providers have in the development of healthy and unhealthy eating behaviors in minority children. Implications for intervention training for child care providers to promote healthy eating among Head Start children are discussed. (J Dev Behav Pediatr 28:00-00, 2007) Index terms: low-income minorities, feeding, child eating behaviors, preschoolers Head Start, child care.
The FASEB Journal, 2014
Objective: Parents report that children's eating behaviours are a major barrier to providing them with a healthy diet. Links between problem eating behaviours and parental feeding practices are not well established and have not previously been examined in overweight children. The aim of the present study was to assess associations between problem food behaviours, dietary intake and parental feeding practices of overweight children aged 4-8 years. Design: Participants were recruited for a lifestyle intervention (n 203). At baseline, children's BMI was measured and parents completed comprehensive questionnaires about the feeding practices they used, the problem food behaviours their children exhibited and the foods their child consumed. A fussy eating scale was developed and associations were determined using correlations and regression analysis, including interactions. Setting: Dunedin, New Zealand. Subjects: Overweight children aged 4-8 years. Results: Healthy eating guidance and monitoring by parents were related to the consumption of fewer unhealthy foods (B = − 0•4, P = 0•001 and B = − 0•4, P < 0•001). Conversely, a lack of parental control (child control) was related to a higher intake of unhealthy foods (B = 0•5, P < 0•001). Parents of children who were fussy eaters monitored their child's food intake less (P < 0•001) and allowed the child more freedom over what he/she ate (P < 0•001). These children consumed fewer fruit and vegetables than those who were not fussy eaters (P < 0•001). However, fussy eaters with food-restrictive parents ate more fruit and vegetables (B = 2•9, P < 0•001). Conclusions: These results suggest that a more structured food environment might be beneficial for the diet and food behaviours of young overweight children.
Children's Health Care, 2014
This study sought to establish empirically derived Parental Feeding Styles based on their mealtime behaviors and strategies and determine how these styles relate to children's weight, mealtime behaviors, and other childhood problems. Parents (N=378) of children ages 2-6 completed questionnaires and reported children's height and weight. Three feeding styles emerged via Latent Profile Analyses: "Internal Regulation" (IR), "External Control" (EC), and "Laissez Faire Regulation" (LFR). BMI scores were highest in the EC profile and LFR parents reported the most mealtime difficulties. These empirically derived feeding styles are associated with specific mealtime behaviors/characteristics and both high and low weight extremes.