Association between Fathers’ and Mothers’ Parenting Styles and the Risk of Overweight/Obesity among Adolescents in San José Province, Costa Rica

Abstract

Parenting styles are a risk factor for adolescents overweight/obesity worldwide, but this association is not well understood in the context of Latin America. This study examines the association between the parenting styles of mothers and fathers and the risk of overweight/obesity among Costa Rican adolescents. Data are cross-sectional from a sample of adolescents (13–18 years old) enrolled in ten urban and eight rural schools (n = 18) in the province of San José, Costa Rica, in 2017. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the likelihood of adolescents being overweight according to the mothers’ and fathers’ parenting styles. A significant association was found between the risk of adolescent overweight/obesity and the paternal authoritarian style only in rural areas (B = 0.622, SE = 0.317, Wald = 3.864, ExpB = 1.863, p = 0.04), and between said risk and the paternal permissive style only in male adolescents (B = 0.901, SE = 0.435, Wald = 4.286, ExpB = 2.461, p = 0.038). For maternal parenting styles, no associations reached significant levels once logistic regression models were adjusted for the fathers’ parenting styles. These findings underscore the importance of further studying the role of fathers’ paternal parenting styles on Latin American adolescent weight outcomes. Expanding our understanding of the parenting styles of fathers has important implications for the design and implementation of culturally- and gender-appropriate family interventions.

Fathers Nutrition Knowledge and Child Feeding Practices Associated with Childhood Overweight and Obesity: A Scoping Review of Literature From 2000 to 2023

“… 47 - 49 Fathers’ child feeding practices in relation to the weight status of children from 2 years into adolescence was the focus of the majority (53.4%) of the studies. 50 - 63 These studies focused on pressure to eat and restriction. For instance, several of the studies focused on pressure to eat and its association with childhood overweight/obesity.…”

“… 50 , 55 - 58 Some of the studies also looked at fathers restriction of children’s food intake and how that could influence overweight or obesity of their children. 50 , 51 , 59 - 61 Further, 23.1% of the articles focused on establishing the father BMI and Child BMI relationship 44 , 47 - 49 , 55 , 56 , 62 , 63 ( Table 5 ).…”