An examination of food parenting practices: structure, control and autonomy promotion

Abstract

ObjectiveIn recent years, researchers have been working towards creating a standard conceptual framework of food parenting. To understand how parents’ reports correspond with the proposed model, the current study examined parents’ reports of their feeding behaviours in the context of a newly established framework of food parenting.DesignCross-sectional, with a two-week follow-up for a subset of the sample. Participants completed a quantitative and qualitative survey to assess food parenting. The survey included items from common food parenting instruments to measure the constructs posited in the framework. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted to ascertain which items related most closely to one another and factors were mapped on to existing constructs.SettingOnline.ParticipantsParents of children aged 2·5–7 years (n 496). Of these, 122 completed a two-week follow-up.ResultsAnalyses revealed eleven aspects of Structure (monitoring; distraction; family presence; meal/snack schedule; unstructured practices; healthy/unhealthy food availability; food preparation; healthy/unhealthy modelling; rules), ten aspects of Coercive Control (pressure to eat; using food to control emotions; food incentives to eat; food incentives to behave; non-food incentives to eat; restriction for health/weight; covert restriction; clean plate; harsh coercion) and seven aspects of Autonomy Promotion (praise; encouragement; nutrition education; child involvement; negotiation; responsive feeding; repeated offering). Content validity, assessed via parents’ open-ended explanations of their responses, was high, and test–retest reliability was moderate to high. Structure and Autonomy Promoting food parenting were highly positively correlated.ConclusionsIn general, parents’ responses provided support for the model, but suggested some amendments and refinements.

Actitudes y prácticas parentales de alimentación infantil: Una revisión de la literatura

“…8 y Musher-Eizenman y cols. 10 agrupan las prácticas de alimentación infantil en tres constructos más inclusivos: control coercitivo, estructura y apoyo a la autonomía.…”

“…La dimensión de estructura alude a los esfuerzos de los padres por organizar un ambiente que favorezca una alimentación sana, como establecer reglas, guiar la elección de alimentos, generar rutinas de alimentación, disponibilidad, accesibilidad y preparación de los alimentos. Finalmente, el apoyo a la autonomía refleja prácticas como educar, elogiar, negociar y alentar al niño en la toma de decisiones sobre su alimentación 8,10 .…”

“…Alimentación restrictiva: La alimentación restrictiva es entendida como la medida en que los padres controlan el consumo de alimentos del niño, dando escasa posibilidad de negociar respecto a sus elecciones 8,9,10 .…”

“…La literatura describe distintas prácticas de los padres hacia la alimentación de los niños 8,9,10 , que incluyen prácticas directivas como la restricción en la alimentación o la presión para comer; prácticas dirigidas a fomentar la participación del niño y la toma de decisiones en la alimentación, como el refuerzo y modelado de figuras significativas; y prácticas orientadas a generar un contexto promotor de la alimentación saludable, como por ejemplo, regular horarios y condiciones ambientales 8,9,10 .…”

The Home and Child-Care: Are Preschoolaged Children Getting Mixed Food-Related Messages?

“…110 In conclusion, there is a need to further understand the precursors to FPPs as it may help inform future efforts to improve healthy eating among Hispanic children. And although efforts are underway to move the field towards a standardization of conceptualizing FPPs, few studies have examined parents, 108,119 and other caregiver (i.e., child care providers) 120 responses in the context of the constructs proposed by Vaughn and colleagues.…”