Do Child Eating Behaviors Moderate Relationships Between Food Parenting Practices and Child Food Preferences?

Abstract

A majority of existing cross‐sectional studies examine the relationship between food parenting practices and child weight status, but this has been proposed not to be indicative of obesity risk, and therefore, food preferences may provide a better prediction of what a child may consume, and thus, obesity risk. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between food parenting practices and child fruit, vegetable, and high fat/sugar food preferences and how child eating behavior moderate those relationships. Parents (n=148) of children (3–7 years old) completed the Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire (CFPQ), the Preschool Adapted Food Liking Scale (PALS), and the Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ). Linear regressions were used to test the study purpose with race, ethnicity, and income as covariates. Child control of eating was negatively associated with a child's preference for fruit (B= −8.16, p=.02) and child involvement was positively related to child preference for vegetables (β = .18, p = .04). Child preference for high fat/sugar foods was positively associated with parental use of food to regulate child emotions (B=10.53, p<.01), food as a reward (B=7.21, p < .001), pressure (B=5.07, p = .04), and restriction of unhealthy food (B=5.82, p = .01), and negatively associated with healthy home environment (B=−5.79, p = .05), modeling (B= −7.67, p = .01), and teaching about nutrition (B = −7.51, p = .01). Interaction models revealed that child food responsiveness moderated the relationships between parental pressure (B=7.32, p=.01) and food as reward (B=5.24, p=.02) and child preference for high fat/sugar foods. Specifically, high child food responsiveness exacerbated the relationship between pressure to eat and food as a reward and child preference for high/fat sugar foods. This study provides evidence that the effect of food parenting practices may be dependent upon child eating behaviors.Support or Funding InformationThis project was funding by Illinois State University College of Applied Science and Technology University Research Grant.