Bidirectional Association Between Parental Pressure to Eat and Children's Satiety Responsiveness: The Moderating Effect of Children's Temperament

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the directionality of the relationship between children's satiety responsiveness and parental pressure to eat and to explore how children's temperament moderates this relationship. Parents of preschoolers (n = 482, Mage = 3.66, SD = 0.29, 51.2% boys) were surveyed at two‐time points spaced 2 years in China, and 76.6% of those were mothers. Cross‐lagged analyses indicated that children's satiety responsiveness positively predicted parental pressure to eat over time. Moderation analyses revealed that children's high anger/frustration intensified the predictive relationship above. These findings suggest that parents should accurately understand their children's satiety responsiveness and tailor their responses based on children's temperament, thereby fostering a virtuous cycle of parent–child interaction.