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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #371409
Title: Exploring determinants of parent behaviors during eating episodes

Author
item LEDOUX, TRACEY - University Of Houston
item ROBINSON, JESSICA - University Of Houston
item Thompson, Deborah - Debbe
item BARANOWSKI, TOM - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)

Submitted to: Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/12/2019
Publication Date: 1/15/2020
Citation: Ledoux, T., Robinson, J., Thompson, D.J., Baranowski, T. 2020. Exploring determinants of parent behaviors during eating episodes. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2019.12.008.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2019.12.008

Interpretive Summary: Many believe that how parents relate to and attempt to influence their child may be the most important influence on child behavior, especially among younger children. What foods children eat is likely also susceptible to such influences. Little is known about the parents' perspective on these issues in regard to preschool children. This qualitative study interviewed 20 parents of preschoolers. The self report data were analyzed to identify themes. Five categories of themes emerged: child behaviors, proactive parent behaviors, reactive parent behaviors, contextual factors, and parent beliefs. The themes were organized into a conceptual model to describe how parents and children influenced each other's behaviors depending on the context and parent beliefs about themselves and their child. The model should guide future research.

Technical Abstract: To develop a conceptual model of determinants of parent feeding behaviors with preschoolers, semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted with parents of preschool-aged children (aged 2–5 years). Interviews were transcribed verbatim. Trained coders conducted thematic analysis with constant comparison of all interviews. The final sample (n=20) included predominantly white (60%), married (70%) mothers (75%) from middle socioeconomic conditions (100% had at least some college education; 70% had a household income>$50,000). Five categories of themes emerged: child behaviors, proactive parent behaviors, reactive parent behaviors, contextual factors, and parent beliefs. The themes were organized into a conceptual model to describe how parents and children influenced each other's behaviors depending on the context and parent beliefs of themselves and their child. Next steps in the research are to validate the conceptual model identified in this qualitative study on a large, nationally representative sample.