Individual Differences in Associations Between Parenting Practices and BMI: The Role of Inhibitory Control

Abstract

Objective: Parental feeding practices are key to children's developing dietary habits and risk for childhood obesity, but the role of child characteristics in this association is less clear. Recently, children's inhibitory control has been related to eating habits and weight. The objective of the current study was to examine associations between parent feeding practices, inhibitory control, and BMI percentile. Study Design, Setting, Participants, and Intervention: In a sample of 176 fourth grade students and parents drawn from a larger nutrition intervention project, it was hypothesized that inhibitory control would moderate associations between parent feeding practices and BMI. Outcome,Measures andAnalysis: Parent feeding practices were collected with the Child Feeding Questionnaire (Birch et al., 2001) (Restriction, Pressure to Eat, and Monitoring). Inhibitory control was collected with the Children's Behavior Questionnaire (Rothbart et al., 2001). BMI percentile was calculated from height and weight, adjusted for age and gender. Results: OLS multiple regression results suggest a significant interaction between the parenting practice of Pressure to Eat and inhibitory control as predictors of BMI percentile (b1⁄4 5.25, p< .05). Simple slopes analyses indicate Pressure to Eat is related to lower BMI percentile only for children low in inhibitory control. Conclusions and Implications: Findings suggest that using pressure to influence a child's eating habits may be beneficial if the child's low inhibitory control interferes with their own ability to regulate their diet but is not beneficial for children with increased regulatory skills. Overall, these results suggest individual child characteristics should be taken into account when considering the role of parenting practices in shaping child health outcomes. Funding: UC ANR, USDA 2011-38420-20082