title: Parenting practices toward food and children's behavior: Eating away from home versus at home.
abstract: Parenting style influences a child's overall diet quality and establishes food preferences. Parenting style and "food rules" for children differ by eating at home or away from home. Eating meals away from home is increasing despite associations with consumption of unhealthy foods and higher weight status. The objective of the current study was to compare parenting practices and decision-making at restaurants versus at home. A mixed methods approach was utilized: facilitated, individual interviews to explore decision-making and parenting practices; written questionnaires for socio-demographic information; and body mass index. Summaries and emergent themes were generated based on examination of tapes and transcripts. Descriptive statistics were computed for questionnaire data. Twenty-five mothers of children of five to eight years who ate at restaurants at least two times per week participated. Mothers reported more permissive food rules at restaurants yet maintained higher behavioral expectations. Mothers were also more likely to make decisions about whether they eat out, where to eat, and children's meal selections than their children. The findings suggest that parenting practices toward overall behavior and food choices may differ at restaurants than at home, highlighting the importance of healthy menu options, further research, and educational strategies.
authors.affiliation: 338 Wallace Hall, Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. Electronic address: mkas@vt.edu.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kasparian
authors.affiliation: 338 Wallace Hall, Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. Electronic address: grmann@olemiss.edu.
authors.forename: Georgianna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.affiliation: 327 Wallace Hall, Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. Electronic address: serrano@vt.edu.
authors.forename: Elena L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Serrano
authors.affiliation: 333 Wallace Hall, Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. Electronic address: alisha@vt.edu.
authors.forename: Alisha R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Farris
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003657:Decision Making; D000072001:Diet, Healthy; D005248:Feeding Methods; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D062407:Meals; D009035:Mothers; D016487:Parenting; D010349:Patient Compliance; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012147:Restaurants; D057566:Self Report; D014768:Virginia
keywords: Child; Family; Mothers; Nutrition; Parents; Restaurants