title: Food parenting practices and child dietary behavior. Prospective relations and the moderating role of general parenting.
abstract: Research on parenting practices has focused on individual behaviors while largely failing to consider the context of their use, i.e., general parenting. We examined the extent to which food parenting practices predict children's dietary behavior (classified as unhealthy: snacking, sugar-sweetened beverage; and healthy: water and fruit intake). Furthermore, we tested the moderating role of general parenting on this relationship. Within the KOALA Birth Cohort Study, in the Netherlands, questionnaire data were collected at 6 and 8 years (N = 1654). Correlations were computed to assess the association between food parenting practices and general parenting (i.e., nurturance, behavioral control, structure, coercive control, and overprotection). Linear regression models were fitted to assess whether food parenting practices predict dietary behavior. Instrumental and emotional feeding, and pressure to eat were found to have associations with undesirable child dietary behavior (increased unhealthy intake/decreased healthy intake), whereas associations were in the desirable direction for covert control, encouragement and restriction. Moderation analyses were performed by evaluating interactions with general parenting. The associations of encouragement and covert control with desirable child dietary behaviors were found to be stronger for children who were reared in a positive parenting context. Future research should assess the influence of contextual parenting factors moderating the relationships between food parenting and child dietary behavior as the basis for the development of more effective family-based interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion, NUTRIM School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Center+, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: ester.sleddens@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
authors.forename: Ester F C
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Sleddens
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion, NUTRIM School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Center+, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Stef P J
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Kremers
authors.affiliation: TNO, P.O. Box 360, 3700 AJ Zeist, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stafleu
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, CAPHRI School of Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University Medical Center+, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Pieter C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Dagnelie
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion, CAPHRI School of Public Health and Primary Care, NUTRIM School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Center+, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Nanne K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: De Vries
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, CAPHRI School of Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University Medical Center+, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Carel
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Thijs
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004032:Diet; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Child dietary behavior; Food parenting practices; General parenting