Nutrition/Obesity
Association between parental body dissatisfaction and child feeding practices in a 2019-2020 statewide sample of Texas parents of second-grade students Kaitlin Brand* Kaitlin Brand Deanna Hoelscher Adriana Perez Raja Malkani
Introduction: Few studies have examined the relation between parent body size attitudes and child feeding practices in parents of elementary school children. The purpose of this study is to explore the association between parental body dissatisfaction and parent-reported child feeding practices in a diverse statewide population.
Methods: Validated self-reported survey data were collected from the parents of second-grade children (n = 1,083) participating in the 2019-2020 Texas School Physical Activity and Nutrition (Texas SPAN) study. Parental body dissatisfaction was dichotomized as desire to lose weight versus other. Child feeding practices included encouraging children to eat in the absence of hunger, offering sweets as a reward, and limiting snacks. Pearson Chi-square tests of independence were conducted, and three weighted logistic regression models were fit, adjusting for parent/child gender, family food insecurity, child race/ethnicity, parent age, and parent education level.
Results: Parents with body dissatisfaction were less likely to offer sweets as a reward (17% vs 26%, p = 0.009), but there were no differences in encouraging eating when not hungry or limiting snacks. Parents with body dissatisfaction had lower odds of encouraging eating when not hungry (AOR 0.68; 95% CI 0.42, 1.11), offering sweets as a reward (AOR 0.63; 95% CI 0.38, 1.01), and limiting snacks (AOR 0.58; 95% CI 0.29, 1.20) compared to parents without body dissatisfaction, after adjusting for covariates.
Discussion: Findings suggest that, among a racially/ethnically diverse population, parental body dissatisfaction may influence some feeding practices more than others. Further research to understand factors underlying these practices may be warranted.