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Published on: February 2, 2017
Food parenting practices and children's weight outcomes: A systematic review of prospective studies
Desi Beckers1, Levie T Karssen1, Jacqueline M Vink1
1Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Insights
Most common food parenting practices like restriction and monitoring showed no link to children's weight. However, higher quality studies suggest pressure to eat may be linked to lower weight outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Nutrition
- Childhood Obesity Research
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Food parenting practices significantly influence children's eating behaviors and weight.
- Understanding prospective links between these practices and weight outcomes is crucial for public health interventions.
- Existing research has primarily focused on a limited set of food parenting strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review and synthesize evidence on prospective associations between various food parenting practices and children's weight outcomes.
- To identify which food parenting practices are most consistently linked to changes in child weight over time.
- To highlight gaps in the current literature regarding understudied food parenting practices.
Main Methods:
- Systematic literature search across three databases for peer-reviewed articles published after 1990.
- Double screening of titles, abstracts, and full-texts by two independent reviewers.
- Inclusion of studies assessing prospective associations between food parenting practices and weight outcomes in children aged 2-18 years.
Main Results:
- 38 studies examined 12 distinct food parenting practices.
- Restriction, pressure to eat, and monitoring generally showed no prospective association with children's weight.
- Higher quality evidence suggested pressure to eat may be linked to lower weight outcomes.
- Instrumental feeding, but not emotional feeding, was tentatively linked to higher weight.
- Findings for mealtime frequency were mixed; other practices like autonomy support were understudied.
Conclusions:
- Commonly studied food parenting practices (restriction, pressure to eat, monitoring) are not consistently associated with children's weight outcomes prospectively.
- Future research should investigate other food parenting practices and the bidirectional relationship between parenting, eating behaviors, and weight.
- Examining the mediating role of dietary intake is recommended for a comprehensive understanding.
Abstract:
This systematic review is the first to provide an overview of the prospective links between food parenting practices and children's weight outcomes. Three databases were searched. All titles, abstracts and full-texts were double screened by two independent reviewers. Peer-reviewed journal articles published after 1990 assessing the prospective association between food parenting practices and weight outcomes of children aged 2-18 years were eligible. A total of 38 eligible studies were identified, focusing on 12 separate food parenting practices. Restriction, pressure to eat, and monitoring were generally not associated with children's weight over time, but higher quality studies suggest that pressure to eat was associated with lower weight outcomes over time. Most studies on food availability and accessibility found null-findings as well. Instrumental-but not emotional-feeding was associated with higher weight over time, but higher quality studies are needed to confirm this link. Results involving the link between frequency of mealtime and child weight were mixed. Autonomy supporting and other structure-related food parenting practices were understudied. In conclusion, food parenting practices receiving the most attention within prospective studies (i.e., restriction, pressure to eat, monitoring) were generally not associated with children's weight outcomes over time. Future high quality studies should focus more on other food parenting practices, further unravel bidirectional links between food parenting and children's eating behaviors and weight outcomes, and examine the mediating role of dietary intake.
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