Maternal executive function and the family food environment

Area of Science:

• Child Health
• Parenting and Nutrition
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• The family food environment significantly influences children's diet, eating behaviors, and weight.
• Parental factors influencing the family food environment are not well understood.
• Executive function (EF) is crucial for self-regulation and may impact parenting practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between maternal executive function and the family food environment.
• To determine if maternal EF difficulties relate to characteristics supporting children's healthy eating and weight.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study of 492 US mothers with children aged 2-9 years.
• Maternal executive function difficulties assessed using the Behavior Rating of Executive Function-Adult Version.
• Family food environment characteristics measured via self-report surveys; analyses used linear regression.

Main Results:

• Mothers with greater executive function difficulties reported fewer recommended food parenting practices.
• These mothers also reported less healthful home food environments (e.g., fewer family meals, inconsistent schedules, using food for emotional regulation).
• Associations were consistent across different sociodemographic factors and child ages.

Conclusions:

• Lower maternal executive function is linked to less supportive family food environments.
• Executive function challenges may hinder parents' ability to foster healthy eating habits and maintain healthy weight in children.
• Interventions targeting maternal executive function could improve family food environments and child health outcomes.