Maternal prompts to eat, child compliance, and mother and child weight status.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if there is a relationship between maternal prompting to eat, child compliance, and mother and child weight.


METHODS
Seventy-one 3- to 6-year-old children and their mothers were videotaped tasting four foods (two familiar, two novel). Maternal prompts to eat and the child's compliance with the prompts were coded. Multiple logistic regression evaluated demographic, anthropometric, and food characteristics that predicted prompting and compliance; and demographic, behavioral, and food characteristics that predicted child body mass index Z score (BMIz) in the children of obese and non-obese mothers.


RESULTS
Obese mothers did not prompt more than non-obese mothers, but children of obese mothers were more compliant (70.2% +/- 19.4 v 59.6% +/- 21.2, P = .04). Low maternal education, a novel food, and younger child age predicted prompting. Maternal obesity, a familiar food, and older child age predicted compliance. In children of obese mothers, low maternal education, more prompts to eat novel foods, fewer prompts to eat familiar foods, and fewer child bites of familiar foods predicted child BMIz (R(2) = 64%). In children of non-obese mothers, none of the covariates predicted child BMIz.


CONCLUSIONS
Children of obese mothers may be more responsive to environmental cues to eat.
Lumeng
Julie C
JC
Center for Human Growth and Development, and Department of Pediatrics, Division of Child Behavioral Health, 300 North Ingalls Building, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0406, USA. jlumeng@umich.edu
Burke
Lori M
LM
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004522:Educational Status; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology*; D010565:Persuasive Communication