Differences in maternal and paternal pressure to eat and perception of household responsibilities

by Paula Patel, Anusha Samant, Kychelle Del Rosario, Mara Z. Vitolins, Joseph A. Skelton, Edward H. Ip, Caroline B. Lucas, Callie L. Brown Controlling feeding practices, such as pressure to eat, are associated with a child’s disinhibited eating and extremes in bodyweight. We aimed to explore which factors are associated with parent dyads’ pressuring feeding practices, including how mothers and fathers perceive the sharing of hous ehold tasks such as mealtime and child feeding responsibilities. In this cross-sectional study, parent dyads (mother and father) of healthy preschool-aged children completed an identical questionnaire consisting of measures of picky eating (food fussiness subscale of Child Eating Behavior Questionna ire), parental concern for undereating, and pressure to eat (Child Feeding Questionnaire). We used separate multivariable linear regression models for mothers and fathers to assess correlates associated with pressure to eat subscale score, including slowness of eating and enjoyment of food, child BM I z-score and race/ethnicity, and household income. Separate unadjusted linear regression models for mothers and fathers were used to report the association of pressure to eat with household responsibilities. Parents (N = 88) had similar mean picky eating, concern for undereating, and pressure to ea t scores; more fathers had high pressure to eat scores (36% vs 27%). Higher pressure to eat was significantly associated with lower income, non-Hispanic Black...
Source: PLoS One - Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Source Type: research