Child adiposity and maternal feeding practices: a longitudinal analysis

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Nutrition
• Childhood Obesity Research
• Behavioral Pediatrics

Background:

• Parental control strategies are hypothesized to contribute to childhood weight gain by impairing self-regulation.
• Existing research is largely cross-sectional, limiting causal inference.
• An alternative hypothesis suggests parental control may be a response to existing child overweight.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the causal direction between parental feeding practices and children's adiposity using a longitudinal design.
• To determine if parental feeding behaviors precede or follow changes in child body composition.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study involving 213 mothers of 7-9-year-old children (Physical Exercise and Appetite in CHildren Study - PEACHES).
• Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) subscales (pressure, restriction, monitoring) administered at baseline and 3-year follow-up.
• Objective anthropometric measurements (BMI, FMI, WC) taken at ages 7-9 and 10-11 years.

Main Results:

• No significant association found between baseline parental feeding practices and subsequent changes in child adiposity.
• Higher baseline child Body Mass Index (BMI) predicted decreased "monitoring" and increased "pressure to eat" at follow-up.
• Child adiposity influenced parental "monitoring" and "pressure to eat" behaviors, not vice versa.

Conclusions:

• Findings support a child-responsive model of parental feeding.
• Maternal feeding practices appear to be influenced by the child's weight status.
• Parental feeding strategies are likely a response to, rather than a cause of, childhood adiposity.