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Psychophysical Tracking Method to Measure Taste Preferences in Children and Adults
Published on: July 16, 2016
Associations between general parenting styles and specific food-related parenting practices and children's food
Carine Vereecken1, Erwin Legiest, Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij
1Ghent University, Department of Public Health, Ghent, Belgium. carine.vereecken@ugent.be
Purpose:
Explore the impact of general parenting style and specific food-related parenting practices on children's dietary habits.
Design:
Cross-sectional study of sixth graders and their parents.
Setting:
Data were gathered (in 2003) in 69 of 100 randomly selected elementary schools in Belgium.
Subjects:
All sixth graders (N = 1957) were invited to participate; 82.4% of their parents gave consent and completed questionnaires, resulting in 1614 parent-child pairs.
Measures:
Children's consumption of breakfast, fruit, vegetables, soft drinks, and sweets was assessed by self-administered food frequency questionnaires. Parents completed questionnaires on sociodemographic characteristics, general parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, indulgent, or neglecting) and specific food-related parenting practices (pressure, reward, encouragement through negotiation, catering on children's demands, permissiveness, avoiding negative modeling, and praise).
Analysis:
Logistic regression analyses were performed, with general parenting style and specific food-related parenting practices as predictors and dietary habits as dependent variables, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and children's weight status.
Results:
General parenting style did not show any significant impact on dietary habits. In contrast, the food-related parenting practice "encouragement through negotiation" showed a significant positive impact, whereas "pressure," "catering on demand," and "permissiveness" were practices with an unhealthy impact.
Conclusion:
Nutrition education programs that guide parents in firm but not coercive food parenting skills are likely to have a positive impact upon children's dietary habits.
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