title: Effects of children's self-regulation of eating on parental feeding practices and child weight.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine whether self-regulation of eating in minority preschool-aged children mediates the relationship between parent feeding practices and child weight. Participants were 299 low-income African American and Hispanic parents and their preschool-aged children who participated in Head Start. Parents completed questionnaires about controlling feeding practices (pressure to eat, restriction) and children's appetitive characteristics (enjoyment of food, food responsiveness, satiety responsiveness). Path analyses were used to determine whether children's self-regulation of eating mediated the relationship between feeding practices and child weight. Greater satiety responsiveness in African American preschool-age children partially mediated the inverse association between pressure to eat and children's weight, B (SE) = -0.073 (0.036), P < .05. Enjoyment of food and food responsiveness did not mediate the relationship between pressure to eat and weight in the African American sample, ps > .05, nor did appetitive characteristics mediate the relationship between restriction and child weight, ps > .05. Appetitive characteristics did not mediate the relationship between controlling feeding practices and child weight in the Hispanic sample, ps > .05. Implications include the need for culturally sensitive self-report measures and for researchers to account for the possible effects of racial/ethnic differences when designing interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Human Performance, Texas Obesity Research Center, University of Houston, 3855 Holman Street, Susanna Garrison Gym Room 104, Houston, TX 77204-6015, USA. Electronic address: mbcross@uh.edu.
authors.forename: Matthew B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Cross
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Human Performance, Texas Obesity Research Center, University of Houston, 3855 Holman Street, Susanna Garrison Gym Room 104, Houston, TX 77204-6015, USA.
authors.forename: Allen M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Hallett
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Human Performance, Texas Obesity Research Center, University of Houston, 3855 Holman Street, Susanna Garrison Gym Room 104, Houston, TX 77204-6015, USA.
authors.forename: Tracey A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Ledoux
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Human Performance, Texas Obesity Research Center, University of Houston, 3855 Holman Street, Susanna Garrison Gym Room 104, Houston, TX 77204-6015, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center, 1100 Bates Street, Houston, TX 77030-2600, USA.
authors.forename: Sheryl O
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Hughes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D001835:Body Weight; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D012527:Satiation; D057566:Self Report; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Minorities; Parent feeding; Self-regulation