Abstract
BackgroundEmerging evidence suggests that parenting stress plays a significant role in children’s eating behavior. However, the nature of the relationship between parenting stress and children’s health behaviors is still not well understood, possibly because there is limited understanding of the mediating factors. The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effect of the parent–child relationship on the association between parenting stress and children’s eating behaviors in families with young children.MethodsUsing a cross-sectional study design, we recruited mothers of families with children aged four to six years in the United States. We asked the mothers select one child if she has more than one eligible child. Mothers answered well-validated questionnaires regarding parenting stress, the parent–child relationship, and children’s eating behaviors. We utilized a structural equation model to analyze the mediating factors.ResultsA total of 172 mothers of children participated in this study. The children’s mean age was 4.92 (SD 0.89) years; 50% of children were female and 71.2% were non-Hispanic Whites. Parenting stress was associated with subcategories of the parent–child relationship (satisfaction with parenting [b* = − 0.69, p < .01], communication [b* = 0.45, p < 0.01], and limit setting [b* = − 0.82, p < .01]). The subcategories of communication and limit setting were negatively associated with food responsiveness in children (b* = − 0.24, p < .01; b* = − 0.46, p < .01, respectively). Limit setting was negatively associated with emotional overeating in children (b* = − 0.49, p < .01). Communication mediated the association between parenting stress and food responsiveness in children (b* = − 0.11, p < .01). The mediating role of limit setting was established in the association between parenting stress and food responsiveness as well as in the association between parenting stress and emotional overeating (b* = 0.38, p < .01; b* = 0.40, p < .01, respectively).ConclusionsThe parent–child relationship is an important component in improving children’s eating behaviors in families that have parents with higher parenting stress levels.
Highlights
Emerging evidence suggests that parenting stress plays a significant role in children’s eating behavior
We found that the majority of missing data met the missing completely at random (MCAR) assumption with one exception (i.e., COM), which was assumed to be missing at random (MAR) according to Little’s test [26]
70% of mothers had a normal range of parenting stress, while 27.3% of mothers had clinically significant parenting stress
Summary
Emerging evidence suggests that parenting stress plays a significant role in children’s eating behavior. The nature of the relationship between parenting stress and children’s health behaviors is still not well understood, possibly because there is limited understanding of the mediating factors. The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effect of the parent–child relationship on the association between parenting stress and children’s eating behaviors in families with young children. The differing rates of obesity by age highlight the significance and necessity of identifying risk factors that influence childhood obesity in the early stages of life. Childhood is a critical developmental stage for establishing health behaviors, including eating behaviors [2]. Healthy eating behaviors, such as a higher satiety response and slower eating, are considered protective factors against childhood obesity [5, 6]. Numerous factors influence children’s eating behaviors; notably, researchers have emphasized parents’ influence in establishing child eating behaviors [7, 8]
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