The Role of Caregiver's Feeding Pattern in the Association between Parents' and Children's Healthy Eating Behavior: Study in Taichung, Taiwan.

Hung-En Liao,Yueen-Mei Deng

doi:10.3390/children8050369

Abstract

While parenting style has been linked with parent feeding behavior (FB), little is known about the role FB plays in the relationship between parents’ eating behavior (PEB) and children’s eating behavior (CEB). Based on social learning theory, we hypothesized that children learn to develop healthy CEB by obeying and imitating parents’ healthy eating and feeding behaviors, and that FB is the mediator between PEB and CEB. In total, 257 survey responses from parents of children up to 5 years old were included in the study. Results indicated that CEB did not differ by children’s age, gender, or birth order; for parents, older age and lower educational levels were associated with less healthy unhealthier FB and PEB. Healthy PEB and FB explained 46.8% and 21.7% of the variance in healthy CEB, respectively. The model confirmed that FB reduced the coefficient of healthy PEB from 0.563 to 0.468 and increased the variance explained from 35.0% to 38.5%. FB was a mediator for PEB and CEB. Discussion covers the complexity of ideal parenting styles and child feeding and their associated effects on CEB in varied environments, including different cultures. We concluded that PEB was the main predictor of CEB, and healthy feeding acted as a mediator.

Highlights

Children’s first five years are a critical period of rapid mental and physical growth, core to which is their nutrition
The World Health Organization (WHO) has proclaimed that a healthy diet and healthy eating help prevent all forms of malnutrition as well as non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, stroke, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases [1]
Combining the effects of parents’ healthy eating and feeding behaviors, the effect of parents’ eating behavior (PEB) reduced from 0.563 to 0.468, which explained more of the variance in children’s eating behavior (CEB), increasing from 35.0% to 38.5%, of which PEB remained as a main predictor (β = 0.468, p < 0.001), followed by FB (β = 0.217, p < 0.001) as a mediator

Summary

Introduction

Children’s first five years are a critical period of rapid mental and physical growth, core to which is their nutrition. The World Health Organization (WHO) has proclaimed that a healthy diet and healthy eating help prevent all forms of malnutrition as well as non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, stroke, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases [1]. Extensive studies have proven that a healthy diet has positive associations with the promotion of both physical (such as preventing cardiovascular diseases [2] and metabolic disorder [3]) and mental health [4], and reduces risks for chronic diseases, mental disorders, and mortality risk [5] in children’s future lives. Food eating behavior is a simple method for nutrient intake, and healthy eating is a complex human behavior for children to learn [8]. The main source of such learning is the parents or caregivers

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion