Maternal Feeding Styles and Child Appetitive Traits: Direction of Effects in Hispanic Families With Low Incomes

Abstract

Feeding styles of parents have been associated with dietary quality/intake and weight outcomes; however, much of the research to date has been cross sectional and the direction of influence unclear. This prospective longitudinal study evaluated the direction of effects between feeding styles and child appetitive traits over time in a sample of 129 Hispanic parent/child dyads that participated in a larger study. Data analyzed for the current study were collected when the children were 4–5 years old and again at ages 7–9 years. Parents (all mothers) reported on their feeding styles and children's appetitive traits using well-established questionnaires. Cross-lagged panel analyses were used to examine the direction of effects. Fully adjusted models revealed that a number of children's appetitive traits at baseline predicted later feeding styles. A bi-directional relationship was found between authoritarian feeding and satiety responsiveness such that higher satiety responsiveness was associated with authoritarian feeding and vice versa. Lower satiety responsiveness was associated with indulgent feeding, whereas higher food responsiveness was associated with authoritarian feeding. Results show preliminary evidence that children's appetitive traits may shape mothers' approach to child feeding. There is also preliminary support for the protective role of an authoritarian feeding style in the self-regulatory processes around child appetitive traits among this population of Hispanic families with low-income levels. These results warrant continued research given that other studies have shown beneficial outcomes for authoritarian feeding among ethnically diverse families with low incomes.

Bidirectional associations between maternal controlling feeding and food responsiveness during infancy

“…This highlights the need for future research to examine factors that contribute to controlling feeding among infants, especially in the case of pressure given our results support a unidirectional parent-driven effect. The longitudinal stability of infant food responsiveness in the current study was lower than previously reported in studies conducted with children 2 years and older ( 27 , 30 , 47 ). Taken together, interventions that target maternal feeding after the 1st year may have limited success in modifying appetitive behaviors to reduce later obesity risk ( 47 ).…”

“…A recent systematic review and meta-analysis that included 14 prospective longitudinal studies examining relations between parental controlling feeding and child appetitive behaviors revealed two significant pooled effects (26): higher child food responsiveness predicted increases in restrictive as well as instrumental feeding (i.e., the use of food as a reward). In line with these results, a recent study showed that higher child food responsiveness at 4-5 years predicted an authoritarian feeding style marked by high levels of parental control when children were aged 7-9 years (27). Although pooled analyses were not conducted for longitudinal associations between pressure to eat and food responsiveness or between emotional feeding and food responsiveness in the aforementioned systematic review due to a limited number of studies, 3 of the 14 prospective studies reported significant longitudinal effects.…”

Maternal depressive symptom trajectories and associations with child feeding

“…In fact, these strategies may be protective for children who have less inhibitory control and/or are more responsive to their environment [70]. There is an emerging body of research that suggests that the feeding relationship between caregiver and child is bi-directional, with children shaping their parents' use of feeding practices [71][72][73]. Indeed, an important characteristic of responsive parenting is that the caregiver's responses should be contingent on their child's cues and behavior [74][75][76].…”