Association Between Parental Psychological Factors and Vegetable Intake in Children With Intellectual Disabilities in Japan: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

An adequate vegetable intake provides essential nutrients, and the importance of vegetable intake has been emphasized. Picky eating behaviour, which is a problem in children with intellectual disability (ID), may result in a lack of vegetable intake. The aim of this research was to investigate how parental psychological factors, e.g. self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, is associated with vegetable intake in children with ID. This crosssectional study was conducted on school children from sixteen special needs schools in the Ibaraki prefecture and the two in other areas. A questionnaire on parental outcome expectancy, self-efficacy and a brief self-administered diet history questionnaire (BDHQ) was distributed to parents of all school children in the first to sixth grade of elementary school on 2nd September 2022. Parental outcome expectancy and self-efficacy were assessed using a five-ordinal scale. A lack of vegetable intake is defined as less than 130g of vegetable intake, which for children, is considered to be two portions. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratio (O.R.) with a 95% confidence interval for analysis of the effects of parental factors on the children's vegetable intake. The data is based on a total of 447 participants (27.6% participation rate). It was observed that the parents of children who consume less than 130g of vegetables a day have a lower outcome expectancy of adequate vegetable consumption (adjusted O.R.=0.877,p=0.017); a higher tendency to stop too much snacking (adjusted O.R.=1.562,p=0.065); a lower selfefficacy regarding adequate vegetable intake (adjusted O.R.=0.508, p<0.01) and a higher tendency to stop too much snacking (adjusted O.R.=1.261, p=0.057) than the parents of children who consume more than 130g of vegetables a day. The parents of children who consume fewer vegetables tend to have lower self-efficacy regarding adequate vegetable intake, which may lead to a lower outcome expectancy. It is necessary to encourage these parents to become aware of the benefits of vegetable intake and it is important that they believe in their children's ability to eat a wide variety of food, including vegetables