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Maternal feeding practices associated with food neophobia
1The University of Texas at Dallas, USA. tanc@uwosh.edu
Appetite
|June 28, 2012
Summary
Mothers of children with high food neophobia (fear of new foods) used more restrictive feeding. Both mothers and children high in food neophobia made healthy foods less available.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Nutrition Science
- Parenting Studies
Background:
- Food neophobia, or the reluctance to try new foods, is common in children and can impact dietary habits.
- Parental feeding practices play a crucial role in shaping children's eating behaviors and food acceptance.
- Understanding the interplay between parental and child food neophobia is essential for developing effective interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the associations between children's food neophobia and maternal feeding practices.
- To explore the relationship between maternal food neophobia and their own feeding behaviors.
- To examine how both child and maternal food neophobia influence the availability of healthy foods.
Main Methods:
- Online questionnaire administered to 85 mothers of children aged 3-12 years.
- Assessment of child and maternal food neophobia levels.
- Evaluation of various parental feeding practices, including restriction, monitoring, and availability of healthy foods.
Main Results:
- Mothers of children with high food neophobia employed more health-related restriction and less monitoring.
- Mothers exhibiting high food neophobia also used more weight-related restriction.
- Both mothers with food neophobic children and mothers who were themselves food neophobic reported making healthy foods less readily available.
Conclusions:
- Food neophobia in children is linked to specific maternal feeding practices like increased restriction and decreased monitoring.
- Maternal food neophobia is associated with restrictive feeding for weight and reduced availability of healthy foods.
- Findings suggest potential targets for interventions aimed at improving parental feeding strategies to enhance children's food acceptance.
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