"A few more bites?": Manifestation of pressure-to-eat in child care

Area of Science:

• Child Nutrition
• Early Childhood Education
• Feeding Practices

Background:

• Pressure-to-eat tactics in childcare can disrupt children's natural hunger and satiety signals.
• This disruption may lead to disordered eating patterns, including overeating, undereating, and food refusal.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and describe the specific ways early childhood educators apply pressure to eat.
• To analyze the prevalence of different pressure-to-eat strategies used in childcare settings.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative content analysis of observational data from 9 childcare centers.
• Coding and counting of observed educator behaviors related to pressure-to-eat.
• Quantitative assessment of pressure types against educator demographics using nonparametric tests.

Main Results:

• The most frequent pressure tactic involved offering food and encouraging eating without regard for hunger or satiety cues.
• Serving food without confirming the child's hunger was a primary example of this common pressure.
• Pressure referencing health benefits/consequences was the least common tactic.
• Increasing educator age and years of experience correlated with less frequent pressure-to-eat behaviors.

Conclusions:

• Understanding the types and frequency of pressure-to-eat is crucial for developing effective interventions.
• Findings can guide the creation of more responsive and supportive feeding environments in childcare.
• This research highlights the need for training educators on sensitive feeding practices.