Individuals commonly tailor their diets for reasons such as weight loss, health promotion, taste preferences, religious purposes, and to accommodate food allergies. Many individuals who adopt dietary changes, however, report experiencing significant social consequences such as stigma. This study explored stigma against various diet types and how one's own dietary patterns influence stigma toward others' eating behaviors. Participants (N = 509) completed an online survey assessing their own dietary patterns and stigma toward others' dietary patterns. On average, participants reported the greatest stigma toward picky eaters and people who follow popular diets. Five mixed analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to understand differences in stigma toward eating styles held by those who endorsed that eating style and those that did not. Men reported significantly more stigma toward eating styles than women; thus, gender was entered as a covariate for each ANOVA. Compared to non-picky eaters, picky eaters reported significantly lower stigma toward picky eating but significantly higher stigma toward all other eating styles except popular diets. There were no other significant differences in stigma reported between those who did or did not adhere to a given eating style. Future research should utilize more diverse samples and evaluate stigma experienced both by and toward others.
Feeding a child in the 21st century can be challenging. A child's diet is thought to be a parent's responsibility, and numerous studies have explored how parents influence their child's food intake through food availability, feeding practices, and modeling. However, this relationship is likely bidirectional such that the child influences the parent as well (sometimes called "pester power"). Pester power has been studied in grocery stores and restaurants. However, no research to date investigates how children influence parent's food selection when eating at home. This study addresses this gap by asking parent and child dyads (N = 79, 95% white) to create meals together and separately. Forty 6-8 and thirty-nine 13-15 yearolds participated. Most of the parents (97.5%) and children (49.4%) who participated were female; and parents reported an average annual income of over 80,000 dollars (68.3%). Mean differences in the nutrient content of the meals were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVAs to examine the strength of influence in the bidirectional relationship. Results suggested when children were present for meal selection, they exerted influence over their parents for more palatable items. When choosing foods as a dyad versus when the parent selected meals for the family, the foods contained more calories, sugar, and less fiber. Protein was the only nutrient that parents influenced in their child's selections. These findings have important implications for understanding the often-overlooked bidirectional dynamic of the feeding relationship, and the accompanying health outcomes of child dietary intake.
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