Technology at Mealtimes: Exploring the Relationship Between Food Parenting Practices, Parental Technology Distraction and Child Food Neophobia

Abstract

Food neophobia has been associated with a poorer diet quality and higher weight status among children, and parent‐child mealtime interactions can influence a child's willingness to try to new foods. Because many US adults own mobile devices, it is important to consider the role technology can play in parent‐child mealtime interactions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the relationship between parent technology distraction at mealtimes, food parenting practices, and child food neophobia. Midwestern parents (n=84) of preschool age children (3–5 years old) completed an online survey to measure: child food neophobia (Food Neophobia Scale), distraction by technology at mealtimes (DISRUPT Mealtime Scale), food parenting practices (Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire), and media use among parents and children (General Parent and Child Media Use). Descriptive statistics were used to describe technology usage. Multiple linear regressions were conducted to test the relationships between parental distraction by technology at mealtimes, food parenting practices, and child food neophobia using parent race and education as covariates. Participants were predominantly Caucasian (80%), mothers (90%) and had at least a 4‐year degree (88%). Descriptive statistics revealed that on a typical day, most preschool age children in this sample did not spend time on a computer (70%), watched TV for less than 2 hours (97%), and played games on a cell phone for less than 30 minutes (89%). It was also found that approximately 50% of children spent up to 1 hour playing on a tablet. Among parents, it was reported that on a typical day, a majority of the sample spent less than 2 hours watching television (86%), used a cell phone to text less than 1 hour (86%), and used a cell phone to play games, watch videos, or surf the internet 15 minutes to 2 hours (63%). No significant relationships were found between technology distraction at mealtimes and food parenting practices or child food neophobia. However, child food neophobia was inversely related to parental use of teaching about nutrition (B= −5.87, p=0.004) and positively related to child control of his or her own eating (B= 3.94, p=0.005). Although direction of influence cannot be assessed, this study provides some evidence as to how parents' feeding behaviors are related to their child's fear of new foods that can be utilized in obesity prevention programs. For example, future interventions should encourage parents to teach their children about nutrition during mealtimes. This is the first study to investigate how parent distraction by technology at mealtimes is related to food parenting practices and child food neophobia; however, no significant relationships were found. This may be due to the relatively homogenous sample, and further studies should be conducted with diverse samples, including fathers.