title: Mexican American mothers' eating and child feeding behaviors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study of Mexican-American mothers of 2-6 year old children was to explore the relationships among maternal attitude, perceived behavioral controls, mother's intent, mother's regulation of her own Simple Carbohydrate Intake (SCI), and mother's child feeding behaviors. The overall objective was to increase understanding of the complex process of intention to eat healthy.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective exploratory design using a convenience sample of a cohort of 82 Mexican-American mothers was used in this study. Structured questionnaires were selected to measure cognitive restraint, disinhibition, hunger, intent to regulate SCI, and mothers' monitoring, restricting, and pressuring of children's diets. Descriptive statistics and correlations were analyzed for each relationship.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The relationships between disinhibition, hunger, cognitive restraint, and the intent variable were significant. More than half of these mothers reported limiting soda and candy for themselves. According to the Food Frequency Questionnaire, mothers were regulating only one-third of simple carbohydrate items they intended to regulate. Significant relationships were found between mothers' regulation of her specific SCI and her control of child feeding behaviors including pressuring, monitoring, and restricting.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings support the idea that mother's eating behaviors, attitudes, and intent may affect how they feed their pre-school children. Nurses need to develop and test interventions targeted at educating Mexican-American mothers about healthy food choices and healthy child feeding behaviors.
authors.affiliation: University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Nursing, Scottsbluff, NE 69361, USA. taguirre@unmc.edu
authors.forename: Trina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aguirre
authors.forename: Diane Brage
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Hudson
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Bunny
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pozehl
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boeckner
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wilhelm
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004032:Diet; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D017058:Mexican Americans; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires