title: Maternal concerns about children overeating among low-income children.
abstract: Addressing overeating is essential to obesity treatment and prevention. The objectives of this study were to investigate maternal concern for child overeating, to identify associated participant characteristics and to determine if concern for child overeating is associated with maternal feeding practices. Low-income mothers (N=289) of children (mean age 70.8months) participated in a semi-structured interview. Themes of maternal concern for child overeating were identified and a coding scheme was reliably applied. Maternal feeding practices were measured by questionnaire and videotaped eating interactions. Logistic regressions were used to test the associations of participant characteristics with the presence of each theme, and bivariate analyses were used to test the associations of the presence of each theme with feeding practices. Three themes were identified: 1) mothers worry that their child does overeat, 2) mothers acknowledge that their child may overeat but indicate that it is not problematic because they manage their child's eating behavior, and 3) mothers acknowledge that their child may overeat but indicate that it is not problematic because of characteristics inherent to the child. Child obesity predicted the themes; mothers of obese and overweight children are more likely to be concerned about overeating. Themes were associated with lower levels of observed pressure to eat. Only Theme 2 was associated with greater restrictive feeding practices. Interventions that provide parents' practical, healthy ways to prevent child overeating may be helpful.
authors.affiliation: Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Electronic address: pesch@umich.edu.
authors.forename: Megan H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Pesch
authors.affiliation: Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rizk
authors.affiliation: Appugliese Professional Advisors, North Easton, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Danielle P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Appugliese
authors.affiliation: Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Medical School, University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Katherine L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Rosenblum
authors.affiliation: Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Department of Nutritional Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Julie C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Lumeng
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety; D002648:Child; D002668:Child Rearing / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D006963:Hyperphagia / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D011203:Poverty; D057566:Self Report; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014743:Videotape Recording
keywords: Child obesity; Feeding behavior; Mother–child relations; Overeating