title: Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study of Factors Associated with the Healthfulness of Parental Responses to Child Food Purchasing Requests.
abstract: Objective The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between various factors (e.g., sociodemographic, child, and parental factors) and the healthfulness of parental responses to child in-store food purchasing requests. Additionally, a secondary objective is to describe "resist strategies" used by parents to respond to child food-purchasing requests and their efficacy in avoiding conflict. Methods Parent-child dyads (children aged 2-6 years) completed an audio-/visual-recoded food shopping trip at their usual grocery store and time. Recordings of trips were coded for behavioral and environmental factors. Parental healthful response rate (i.e., percent of responses that were healthful) was the primary outcome variable. A healthful response occurred when a parent yielded to a healthful child request, or resisted a non-healthful request. Parents also completed a questionnaire. Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to assess the relationship between the main outcome variable and sociodemographic, child, and parent factors. Results Parents (n = 39) responded healthfully to 62.9 % (±26.7 %) of child food purchasing requests. Low- and middle-income parents, and black and white parents, had significantly higher healthful response rates compared to high-income parents (p = 0.03) and Hispanic/Indian-descent parents (p = 0.02), respectively. Using the "ignore" strategy proved an effective resist strategy in this study, leading to no parent-child conflicts. Conclusions Programming that seeks to improve the healthfulness of food purchasing in families with young children should address unhealthful response behaviors in Hispanic/Indian-descent parents and high-income parents; although, the needs of these groups are different. Further research is needed to confirm and expand on these findings.
authors.affiliation: Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition, 8401 West Dodge Rd. #100, Omaha, NE, 68114, USA. ecalloway@centerfornutrition.org.
authors.forename: Eric E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Calloway
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Austin Regional Campus, Michael and Susan Dell Center, The University of Texas Health Science Center, 1616 Guadalupe Street, Suite 6.334, Austin, TX, 78701, USA.
authors.forename: Nalini
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ranjit
authors.affiliation: The University of Texas at Austin, 200 W. 24th Street, Gearing Hall, Austin, TX, 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Sara J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Sweitzer
authors.affiliation: Third Coast R&D, Inc., 2728 Ave Q, Galveston, TX, 77550, USA.
authors.forename: Cindy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roberts-Gray
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Austin Regional Campus, Michael and Susan Dell Center, The University of Texas Health Science Center, 1616 Guadalupe Street, Suite 6.334, Austin, TX, 78701, USA.|The University of Texas at Austin, 200 W. 24th Street, Gearing Hall, Austin, TX, 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Maria J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Romo-Palafox
authors.affiliation: The University of Texas at Austin, 200 W. 24th Street, Gearing Hall, Austin, TX, 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Katie A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: McInnis
authors.affiliation: The University of Texas at Austin, 200 W. 24th Street, Gearing Hall, Austin, TX, 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Margaret E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Briley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003132:Commerce / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003657:Decision Making; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013781:Texas
keywords: Child; Food shopping; Nutrition; Observation; Parent