Associations among permissive parenting, family mealtime behaviors, nutrition, and blood glucose in children with type 1 diabetes

Abstract

ABSTRACT We examined relations among permissive parenting, mealtime behaviors, nutrition, and HbA1c in pediatric type 1 diabetes (T1D). Sixty-three children (Mage = 10.3, SD = 1.9) with T1D and caregivers completed surveys. Permissive parenting significantly negatively correlated with vegetable consumption (r=-0.27, p = .03). It was positively correlated with child resistance to eating (r = 0.48, p < .01), parent aversion to mealtime (r = 0.51, p < .01) and mealtime disturbance (r = 0.48, p < .01). Child resistance to eating did not mediate the relation between permissive parenting and HbA1c or permissive parenting and vegetable consumption. Because permissive parenting relates to eating behaviors, parent-child interventions promoting healthy eating and more effective parenting in T1D should be explored.