Feeding Practices of Mothers from Varied Income and Racial/Ethnic Groups.
OBJECTIVE
Relatively few investigators have explored the role of maternal control in describing the feeding behavior of nonwhite parents of preschool-age children. The present study was conducted to examine if controlling feeding behaviors (i.e., restriction and pressuring) varied by income (middle vs. low) and race/ethnicity (white vs. Hispanic), and if they were associated with the BMI of their 4-year-old offspring.


METHODS
Responses to the "restriction" and "pressure to eat" variables of theChild Feeding Questionnairewere compared between 51 white middle-income mothers and 49 Hispanic low-income mothers.


RESULTS
Mothers from both groups gave predominantly "neutral" ratings in their self-reports of feeding practices. However, relative to the Hispanic mothers, white mothers indicated significantly less restriction and pressure to eat. Higher child BMI was predicted by male gender and being Hispanic.


CONCLUSIONS
The utility of maternal feeding practices in predicting child overweight is discussed, and the significant association between the conceptually different constructs of restriction and pressure to eat is examined.
Rutgers University, Nutritional Sciences, Davison Hall, 26 Nichol Avenue, New Brunswick, 08901 United States worobey@rci.rutgers.edu.
John
J
Worobey
Rutgers University, Biological Sciences, New Brunswick, 08901 United States aborrell@eden.rutgers.edu.
Amanda
A
Borrelli
Rutgers University, Nutritional Sciences, New Brunswick, 08901 United States carespin@rci.rutgers.edu.
Carolina
C
Espinosa
Rutgers University, Nutritional Sciences, New Brunswick, 08901 United States harrietw@rci.rutgers.edu.
Harriet S
HS
Worobey
child weight; feeding practices; minority mothers