Exploring Determinants of Parent Behaviors During Eating Episodes

To develop a conceptual model of determinants of parent feeding behaviors with preschoolers.

Semistructured in-depth interviews were collected and transcribed verbatim.

University of Houston.

Parents of preschool-aged children (aged 2-5 years).

Determinants of parent behaviors during eating episodes with preschoolers.

Trained coders conducted thematic analysis with constant comparison of all interviews.

The final sample (n = 20) included predominantly white (60%), married (70%) mothers (75%) from middle socioeconomic conditions (100% had at least some college education; 70% had a household income >$50,000). Five categories of themes emerged: child behaviors, proactive parent behaviors, reactive parent behaviors, contextual factors, and parent beliefs. The themes were organized into a conceptual model to describe how parents and children influenced each other's behaviors depending on the context and parent beliefs of themselves and their child.

A conceptual model outlining several determinants of parent feeding behaviors among preschoolers was developed. Next steps in the research are to validate the conceptual model identified in this qualitative study on a large, nationally representative sample.