Parents are accurate reporters of their preschoolers' fruit and vegetable consumption under limited conditions.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the accuracy of parents as reporters of both their own and their 2- to 5-year-old children's fruit and vegetable intake.


METHODS
Observational study with a 1-meal intake assessment by an independent observer, followed by a telephone survey to determine the previous day's consumption using a 29-item fruit, juice, and vegetable food frequency questionnaire.


METHODS
Two separate meal assessments in community-based settings.


METHODS
A convenience sample of 61 parent-child dyads from Eastern Missouri was recruited from a school health fair and the Parents as Teachers program. The mean age of the parents was 31.1 years, and 91% were female. The mean age for children was 39.0 months, and 60% were female.


METHODS
Parent and child fruit and vegetable intake.


METHODS
Interobserver agreement using a kappa statistic.


RESULTS
Parents accurately reported their children's intake on most fruits and vegetables (kappa=0.59-0.61). Parents were the least accurate in recalling the consumption of raisins from oatmeal cookies (kappa=0.05) and 100% juice (kappa=0.17).


CONCLUSIONS
Parents can serve as accurate proxies to report fruit and vegetable consumption by their preschoolers on a food frequency questionnaire used to determine intake for the previous day. This can be a helpful evaluation method for research involving young children.
Linneman
Cynthia
C
Obesity Prevention Center, School of Public Health, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri 63104, USA.
Hessler
Kimberly
K
Nanney
Susie
S
Steger-May
Karen
K
Huynh
An
A
Haire-Joshu
Debra
D
D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004032:Diet; D004034:Diet Surveys; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014675:Vegetables