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Parental feeding behavior in relation to children's tasting behavior: An observational study
Ellen Moens1, Lien Goossens1, Sandra Verbeken1
1Department of Developmental & Personality Psychology, Ghent University, H. Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
Appetite
|September 3, 2017
Summary
Parental modeling of tasting unknown foods is uncommon in children. Encouragement to taste, especially in younger, healthy-weight children, is more frequent, but requires further research.
Area of Science:
- Childhood Nutrition
- Parenting Studies
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Parental feeding practices significantly influence children's eating habits.
- Research has focused on maladaptive strategies, with less attention on adaptive approaches in school-aged children of varying weight statuses.
- Understanding parental modeling and encouragement is crucial for promoting healthy eating behaviors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate parental modeling and encouragement strategies for tasting unknown foods in children aged 7-13.
- To differentiate between encouraging *what* children eat (adaptive) and *how much* (maladaptive).
- To examine the relationship between these practices and children's age and weight status.
Main Methods:
- Observational study involving 55 families (25 with overweight children, 30 with healthy-weight children).
- Children participated in a taste task involving an unknown food.
- Parental modeling and encouragement behaviors were recorded and analyzed in relation to child's age and weight status.
Main Results:
- Nearly all children (94.3%) tasted the unknown food, precluding weight status comparisons.
- Parental modeling to encourage tasting was infrequent (26.9%) and not linked to child's age or weight.
- Encouragement of *what* to taste was common (77.4%), particularly in parents of younger and healthy-weight children.
- Encouragement of *amount* to consume was also observed (21.1%), more so in parents of healthy-weight children.
Conclusions:
- Parental modeling is underutilized in encouraging children to try new foods.
- Parental encouragement is frequently used, especially with younger and healthy-weight children, but its measurement and adaptive qualities require further investigation.
- Adaptive parental encouragement strategies warrant more in-depth research to support healthy eating development.
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