title: Eat this, not that! Parental demographic correlates of food-related parenting practices.
abstract: To understand how parents of adolescents attempt to regulate their children's eating behaviors, the prevalence of specific food-related parenting practices (restriction, pressure-to-eat) by sociodemographic characteristics (parent gender, race/ethnicity, education level, employment status, and household income) were examined within a population-based sample of parents (n=3709) of adolescents. Linear regression models were fit to estimate the association between parent sociodemographic characteristics and parental report of food restriction and pressure-to-eat. Overall, findings suggest that use of controlling food-related parenting practices, such as pressuring children to eat and restricting children's intake, is common among parents of adolescents, particularly among parents in racial/ethnic minority subgroups, parents with less than a high school education, and parents with a low household income. Results indicate that that social or cultural traditions, as well as parental access to economic resources, may contribute to a parent's decision to utilize specific food-related parenting practices. Given that previous research has found that restriction and pressure-to-eat food-related parenting practices can negatively impact children's current and future dietary intake, differences in use of these practices by sociodemographic characteristics may contribute, in part, to the disparities that exist in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents by their race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status.
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454, United States. Electronic address: fall0075@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Katie A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Loth
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454, United States.
authors.forename: Richard F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: MacLehose
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Minnesota, 5-140 Weaver-Densford Hall, 308 Harvard Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States.
authors.forename: Jayne A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Fulkerson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, 2450 Riverside Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55454, United States.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Crow
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454, United States.
authors.forename: Dianne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Neumark-Sztainer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004034:Diet Surveys; D004435:Eating; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting; D015995:Prevalence; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors