Using food as a reward: An examination of parental reward practices

Roberts, Lindsey T.; Marx, Jenna M.; Musher‐Eizenman, Dara R.

doi:10.1016/j.appet.2017.09.024

Cited by 40 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This is not unexpected as majority of the children in our study sample is of normal weight range, hence it is possible that mothers are less concerned about their child's weight status. While some studies have reported that children who were frequently given food as a reward were found to be more food responsive and more likely to emotionally overeat [51][52][53], our study did not observe an association between mothers providing food as rewards and a greater sense of value of food in their offspring. It is possible that mothers responded to the questions on feeding practices based on their own perception but may not have done so to a significant extent in practice, thus resulting in the null associations [54].…”

Section: Plos Onecontrasting

confidence: 97%

Evaluation of a child food reward task and its association with maternal feeding practices

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Food reward is defined as the momentary value of a food to the individual at the time of ingestion and is characterised by two psychological processes–“liking” and “wanting”. We aimed to validate an age-appropriate food reward task to quantify implicit wanting of children from the GUSTO cohort (n = 430). At age 5 years, child appetitive traits and maternal feeding practices were reported by mothers via questionnaires. At age 6, a write-for-food task based on the child’s preference for food or toy rewards was undertaken in laboratory conditions. Child BMI and skinfold measurements were taken at age 7. Convergent validity of the food reward task was assessed by associating with child appetitive traits, where enjoyment of food/food responsiveness (OR: 1.51; 95% CI: 1.06, 2.15) and emotional overeating (OR: 1.64; 95% CI: 1.09, 2.48) were positively associated with high food reward in children. Criterion validity was tested by associating with child BMI, however no significant relationships were observed. Multivariable logistic regression analysis with maternal feeding practices revealed that children whose mother tend to restrict unhealthy food (OR: 1.37; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.82) and girls whose mothers taught them about nutrition (OR: 2.09; 95% CI: 1.19, 3.67) were more likely to have high food reward. No further significant associations were observed between food reward, other appetitive traits and feeding practices. Despite the lack of association with child weight status, this study demonstrated the value of the write-for-food task to assess food reward in children and presented sex-specific associations with maternal feeding practices.

show abstract

Section: Plos Onecontrasting

confidence: 97%

Evaluation of a child food reward task and its association with maternal feeding practices

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The predictive effect of using food as reward on weight status in younger children only may reflect that this feeding practice is commonly used as a primary reinforcer in younger rather than older children to shape the child’s behavior [48]. Additionally, this age range is typical for “picky” eating behavior in children [49], potentially leading parents to use food as reward for eating non-preferred foods [50], which in turn might influence BMI development through an increased caloric intake. Typically, parents use palatable foods (e.g., sweets) as rewards, which are usually energy-dense and high in calories, to have a high rewarding value [51].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Typically, parents use palatable foods (e.g., sweets) as rewards, which are usually energy-dense and high in calories, to have a high rewarding value [51]. As frequent use of food as reward is known to enhance children’s responsiveness to food cues, refusal to try new foods, desire to eat, emotional overeating, loss of appetite for nutrient-dense foods [50], and dental caries [52], future research on the bi-directional association between food-rewarding and child BMI is needed to promote non-food rewarding strategies and thereby healthy child BMI and eating habits.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability, Continuity, and Bi-Directional Associations of Parental Feeding Practices and Standardized Child Body Mass Index in Children from 2 to 12 Years of Age

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

(1) Background: Parental feeding practices are related to child body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) and seem to be a consequence rather than cause of child BMI, but research so far is limited. Stability and continuity of feeding practices, probably explaining changes in food intake and child BMI, remain to be poorly examined. (2) Methods: Feeding practices (i.e., restriction, food as reward, pressure to eat, monitoring) assessed via the Child Feeding Questionnaire, child age, standardized BMI (zBMI), and socio-economic status were measured annually at multiple visits (range 2–8) in a population-based longitudinal cohort study of 1512 parents with their children aged 2 to 12 years. Stability, continuity, and bi-directionality of feeding practices and child zBMI were calculated using correlation coefficients, paired t tests, and cross-lagged panels, respectively. (3) Results: Feeding practices and child zBMI showed moderate to high stability. While continuity was high for restriction, minor temporal changes were observed for other feeding practices and child zBMI. Cross-lags indicated that child zBMI predicted restriction, pressure to eat, and monitoring, while food-rewarding predicted child zBMI only minorly. (4) Conclusions: Parents seem to adapt feeding practices to child zBMI with the exception of food-rewarding.

show abstract

“…Higher scores indicate greater use of parenting strategies that correspond with a particular parenting style. Consistent with previous studies, we treated each of the parenting style variables as continuous, given that parents often engage in more than one specific parenting style. For study analyses, we used baseline PSDQ.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consistent with previous studies, [26][27][28][29][30] we treated each of the parenting style variables as continuous, given that parents often engage in more than one specific parenting style. For study analyses, we used baseline PSDQ.…”

Section: Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaireshort Versionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Authoritarian parenting style predicts poorer glycemic control in children with new-onset type 1 diabetes

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Using food as a reward: An examination of parental reward practices

Cited by 40 publications

References 35 publications

Evaluation of a child food reward task and its association with maternal feeding practices

Evaluation of a child food reward task and its association with maternal feeding practices

Stability, Continuity, and Bi-Directional Associations of Parental Feeding Practices and Standardized Child Body Mass Index in Children from 2 to 12 Years of Age

Authoritarian parenting style predicts poorer glycemic control in children with new-onset type 1 diabetes

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About