Association between fathers' and mothers' parenting styles and the risk of overweight/obesity among adolescents in San José Province, Costa Rica

Authors: MONGE-ROJAS, RAFAEL - Costa Rican Institute For Research And Education On Nutrition And Health(INCIENSA); SMITH-CASTRO, VANESSA - Universidad De Costa Rica; O'CONNOR, TERESIA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC); VARGAS-QUESADA, RULAMÁN - Costa Rican Institute For Research And Education On Nutrition And Health(INCIENSA); REYES-FERNÁNDEZ, BENJAMÍN - Universidad De Costa Rica

Submitted to: Nutrients
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/13/2022
Publication Date: 12/15/2022
Citation: Monge-Rojas, R., Smith-Castro, V., O'Connor, T.M., Vargas-Quesada, R., Reyes-Fernández, B. 2022. Association between fathers' and mothers' parenting styles and the risk of overweight/obesity among adolescents in San José Province, Costa Rica. Nutrients. 14(24). Article 5328. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14245328.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14245328

Interpretive Summary: There is growing evidence that parenting style, often defined as the emotional climate of parent-child interactions, are associated with obesity related behaviors and subsequent risk of overweight and obesity. Three different parent styles authoritative (high responsiveness to, and high demandingness of, youth), authoritarian (low responsiveness and high demandingness), and permissive (high responsiveness and low demandingness) in research conducted with Euro-American, white, middle-class families. Since that time the authoritative parenting style has been associated with healthier weights and better diets among similar youth. However, little is known about how parenting styles is associated with adolescent's risk of obesity in Latin America. This is important because parenting in Latin America may be different than in an Euro-American culture because of different cultural beliefs about parenting and family, with parents often holding greater authority and there being stronger feelings of family cohesions (familism) in Latin American families. This study therefore assessed the association of parenting style for fathers and mothers and the weight status of adolescents in Costa Rica according to the youth's gender. Data from a cross-sectional study of ten urban schools and eight rural schools (youth 13-18 years old) in a province of Costa Rica were surveyed with 695 adolescents providing complete data. Heights and weights were measured on the students and the students completed surveys on the father's and mother's parenting style. The results showed that only fathers' parenting style, but not mothers' parenting style, were associated with adolescent weight status. Authoritarian parenting style by the father was associated with overweight and obesity among both their daughters and sons, while permissive parenting style by fathers was associated with higher rate of overweight or obesity only among their sons. These findings underscore the importance of including fathers in interventions, programs and studies conducting among Latin American youth.

Technical Abstract: Parenting styles are a risk factor for adolescents overweight/obesity worldwide, but this association is not well understood in the context of Latin America. This study examines the association between the parenting styles of mothers and fathers and the risk of overweight/obesity among Costa Rican adolescents. Data are cross-sectional from a sample of adolescents (13–18 years old) enrolled in ten urban and eight rural schools (n=18) in the province of San José, Costa Rica, in 2017. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the likelihood of adolescents being overweight according to the mothers' and fathers' parenting styles. A significant association was found between the risk of adolescent overweight/obesity and the paternal authoritarian style only in rural areas (B=0.622, SE=0.317, Wald=3.864, ExpB=1.863, p=0.04), and between said risk and the paternal permissive style only in male adolescents (B=0.901, SE=0.435, Wald=4.286, ExpB=2.461, p=0.038). For maternal parenting styles, no associations reached significant levels once logistic regression models were adjusted for the fathers' parenting styles. These findings underscore the importance of further studying the role of fathers' paternal parenting styles on Latin American adolescent weight outcomes. Expanding our understanding of the parenting styles of fathers has important implications for the design and implementation of culturally- and gender-appropriate family interventions.