title: A Qualitative Investigation of Parents' Perspectives About Feeding Practices With Siblings Among Racially/Ethnically and Socioeconomically Diverse Households.
abstract: Little is known about parent feeding practices with siblings. Because this is a new area of research, qualitative research is needed to understand parents' perspectives about how they make decisions about feeding siblings and whether they adapt their feeding practices dependent on sibling characteristics such as weight status. The main objective of the current study was to describe parent feeding practices with siblings.
  
  
  
  Qualitative cross-sectional study with 88 parents with at least 2 siblings.
  
  
  
  Parents were interviewed in their homes in Minneapolis/St Paul Minnesota.
  
  
  
  Parents were from racially/ethnically diverse (64% African American) and low-income households (77% earned < $35,000/y).
  
  
  
  Parents' perceptions of feeding practices with siblings.
  
  
  
  Qualitative interviews were coded using a hybrid deductive and inductive content analysis approach.
  
  
  
  Parents indicated that they used child food preferences, in-the-moment decisions, and planned meals when deciding how to feed siblings. Additionally, the majority of parents indicated that they managed picky eating by making 1 meal or giving some flexibility/leeway to siblings about having other food options. Furthermore, parents endorsed using different feeding practices (eg, food restriction, portion control, pressure-to-eat, opportunities for healthful eating) with siblings dependent on child weight status or age/developmental stage.
  
  
  
  Findings from the current study may inform future research regarding how to measure parent feeding practices with siblings in the home environment and the development of interventions tailored for families with multiple children in the home. Future quantitative research is needed to confirm these qualitative findings.
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota Medical School, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Minneapolis, MN. Electronic address: jberge@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Jerica M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Berge
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota Medical School, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Minneapolis, MN.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Trofholz
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota Medical School, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Minneapolis, MN.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schulte
authors.affiliation: University of California Davis, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Davis, CA.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Conger
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, Minneapolis, MN.
authors.forename: Dianne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Neumark-Sztainer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008910:Minnesota; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D035781:Siblings
keywords: childhood obesity; parent feeding practices; qualitative; siblings; weight status