Similarities in food preferences between children and their siblings and parents

Fifty-five Canadian women completed questionnaires about the food likes and dislikes of members of their families. Each family consisted of a mother, a father, a "target" child (24-83 months old) and the child's nearest-age sibling. The likes and dislikes of the target children were cross-tabulated with those of their mothers, fathers, and siblings, and phi-statistics were computed for the child-mother, child-father and child-sibling pairs as measures of similarity in food preferences. The results revealed that the target children resembled all three members of their families in their food preferences and that this resemblance was especially pronounced in the case of siblings.