Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 8, 2026
06:16
Involving Individuals with Developmental Language Disorder and Their Parents/Carers in Research Priority Setting
Published on: June 6, 2020
4.2K
Understanding Parents' Experiences of Using a Portion Guide for Young Children: A Qualitative Study
Mira Malmberg1, Rebecca Lang2, Rana Conway1
1Research, Department of Behavioural Science and Health, University College London, London, UK.
Maternal & Child Nutrition
|December 13, 2025
Summary
Parents appreciate portion guides for child nutrition but don't use them directly for serving sizes. The guides influence overall diet balance and limiting unhealthy foods, despite perceived impracticalities.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Nutrition Science
- Childhood Obesity Prevention
Background:
- Larger portion sizes in children correlate with increased energy intake and childhood obesity.
- Parents express willingness to use portion guidance for their young children.
- Limited understanding exists regarding parents' actual use and perception of portion guides they have received.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore how parents utilize age-appropriate portion guides in their feeding practices.
- To evaluate the perceived value of wider availability of such portion guidance.
Main Methods:
- Conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 15 parents of children aged 1-4 years who received a portion guide.
- Analyzed interview data using reflexive thematic analysis to identify key themes.
Main Results:
- Parents appreciated the guidance for overall diet balance and limiting unhealthy foods, but did not use it to determine specific portion sizes.
- Portion sizes were primarily influenced by other parent- and child-led strategies, with some guide aspects deemed impractical.
- The guide was still valued for its indirect benefits, even if not used as intended for portion control.
Conclusions:
- Portion guides may have less direct impact on parents' serving practices than anticipated.
- Despite limitations in direct application, portion guides are valued by parents and can positively affect other feeding behaviors and dietary balance.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:27Parenting Styles
560
Diana Baumrind's four parenting styles — authoritarian, authoritative, neglectful, and permissive — each influence children's socio-emotional development differently.
Authoritarian Parenting
This style is strict and controlling, with little room for open dialogue. Authoritarian parents demand obedience and often enforce rules with minimal warmth. Children raised this way may lack social skills and initiative, usually comparing themselves to others unfavorably.
Authoritative...
Authoritarian Parenting
This style is strict and controlling, with little room for open dialogue. Authoritarian parents demand obedience and often enforce rules with minimal warmth. Children raised this way may lack social skills and initiative, usually comparing themselves to others unfavorably.
Authoritative...
560
00:55Parental Care
12.6K
Many animals exhibit parental care behavior, including feeding, grooming, and protecting young offspring. Parental care is universal in mammals and birds, which often have young that are born relatively helpless. Several species of insects and fish, as well as some amphibians, also care for their young.
12.6K
01:28Relationship with Parents: Attachment
208
Parent-child interactions lay the foundation for how we understand relationships throughout life. These interactions are not uniform across families; instead, they are shaped by a range of environmental, emotional, and behavioral factors unique to each caregiver-child dynamic. Social psychologists study these early relationships to understand how patterns formed in infancy influence social functioning and interpersonal behavior in adulthood.Attachment Theory and Early Relational ModelsJohn...
208