Does parents’ weight status influence how they feed their children?
Parents display particular practices around the way they feed their children. Called “food parenting practices”, examples include rewarding a child with food when they have accomplished a task or telling a child they can’t have dessert until they finish their broccoli. Some food parenting practices may negatively influence the dietary intakes and nutritional status of children, which may increase the risk of outcomes such as childhood obesity. Could food parenting practices be influenced by parents’ own weight status?
In our study, we found that most self-reported food parenting practices are not influenced by measures of a mother’s or father’s weight status (e.g., weight, body fat, waist circumference). However, parents who were overweight or obese were less likely to report encouraging balanced and varied diets in their children and involving their children in meal planning or preparation. Because encouraging balanced diets and involving children in meal planning or preparation can protect against childhood obesity, our findings suggest that these two food parenting practices, but not other practices, of parents who are overweight or obese may increase the risk of obesity in children.
While our results did not determine the relationship between parent weight status and food parenting practices to be causal, they do suggest that a relationship may exist. Further research is needed to better understand the relationship between parent weight status and food parenting practices to develop family-based obesity prevention strategies. If future research confirms the relationship we found between parent weight status and selected food parenting practices, intervention strategies can be tailored to address the differences that may exist in food parenting practices between parents who are normal weight and those who are overweight/obese and perhaps lower the risk of childhood obesity.
Read the full paper — Parental overweight is associated with less encouragement of child dietary balance and variety and involvement in meal planning and preparation by Owen Krystia, Gerarda Darlington, Jess Haines, David W.L. Ma and Andrea C. Buchholz on the FACETS website.
