The influence of parents’ dietary beliefs and behaviours on children's dietary beliefs and behaviours. The CYKIDS study

Abstract

We investigated the association between parental dietary beliefs and behaviours (DBB) and those of their children behaviours. Data were derived from a national cross-sectional study using multistage sampling design, among 1140 children (9–13 years). Principal component analysis was employed to extract the main factors out of eight variables assessing children's dietary beliefs and behaviours (N=991); those eight factors were then regressed, on 16 dependent variables, describing different parental dietary beliefs and behaviours, adjusted for potential confounders. Three factors emerged as important in explaining the variance in children's dietary beliefs and behaviours: “guilty about eating” (factor 1), “concerned about own body weight” (factor 2) and “eating all my food” (factor 3). Children with types 1–3 behaviour: were 30% more likely to have parents who did not control what and how much their child ate, have parents who are 40% more likely to think that their child is overweight/obese and seem to have more availability of high fat foods, respectively. Breastfeeding was associated with the acquisition of positive dietary beliefs and behaviours by children, independently of child's age, gender, place of residence, socio-economic status, diet quality, and child's and parents’ obesity status. We propose that parents are likely to exert their influence in shaping eating habits and subsequently obesity development in their children, by influencing their children's dietary beliefs and behaviours.