Maternal Eating and Physical Activity Strategies and their Relation with Children's Nutritional Status

Abstract

Objectives to describe the maternal eating and physical activity strategies (monitoring, discipline, control, limits and reinforcement) [MEES]; to determine the relation between MEES and the child's nutritional status [body mass index (BMI) and body fat percentage (BFP)]; to verify whether the MEES differ according to the child's nutritional status. Method participants were 558 mothers and children (3 to 11 years of age) who studied at public schools. The Parental Strategies for Eating and Activity Scale (PEAS) was applied and the child's weight, height and BFP were measured. For analysis purposes, descriptive statistics were obtained, using multiple linear regression and the Kruskal-Wallis test. Results the highest mean score was found for reinforcement (62.72) and the lowest for control (50.07). Discipline, control and limits explained 12% of the BMI, while discipline and control explained 6% of the BFP. Greater control is found for obese children (χ2=38.36, p=0.001) and greater reinforcement for underweight children (χ2=7.19, p<0.05). Conclusions the mothers exert greater control (pressure to eat) over obese children and greater recognition (congratulating due to healthy eating) in underweight children. Modifications in parental strategies are recommended with a view to strengthening healthy eating and physical activity habits.

Food Parenting Practices and Feeding Styles and Their Relations with Weight Status in Children in Latin America and the Caribbean

“…The remaining 19 articles were reviewed in their entirety, and 9 of them were excluded for not meeting the study selection criteria: studied populations did not live in Latin America or the Caribbean [ 13 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]; in addition to not being conducted in LAC, one of these studies used a qualitative method [ 25 ]; weight status was not included as an outcome variable [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ], and one of them also studied children who were out of the age range of 2 to 12 years old [ 31 ]. The remaining 10 articles [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 ] were included in the review.…”

Prácticas parentales de alimentación y actividad física, y su asociación con el exceso de peso en niños entre 6 a 10 años

“…19 Los niños sin exceso de peso tuvieron mayor exposición a altos grados de control parental, lo que es opuesto a otros reportes. 8,14,[20][21][22] En otros estudios se observó que los niños con alto nivel de control de sus patrones de alimentación y actividad física aumentan algunos indicadores del estatus corporal (IMC, porcentaje de grasa) o conductual (comer sin apetito). Basado en una prueba de c 2 de igualdad de proporciones *Punto de corte: para cada subescala se tomaron las puntuaciones superiores a 1 desviación estándar debajo del promedio.…”

“…Por lo anterior, es conveniente que las instituciones de salud incorporen la evaluación rutinaria de las prácticas parentales de alimentación y actividad física en sus programas de vigilancia y prevención de exceso de peso. Aunque aún es poco clara la direccionalidad de la asociación, con algunos estudios que reportan asociaciones positivas 12,14,20 y otros inversas, 11,[24][25][26] el control parental de las conductas alimentarias y de actividad física de los niños se relaciona con su tamaño corporal.…”

Study protocol: intervention in maternal perception of preschoolers’ weight among Mexican and Mexican-American mothers

“…In Mexico, a study on mothers and children residing in 5 northeastern states found that 68% of mothers of overweight children and 75% of mothers of obese children underestimated their preschoolers’ body weight [ 14 ]. In addition, Mexican and Hispanic mothers exert control and discipline that could lead to over consumption of foods and increased obesity risk [ 15 , 16 ]. More problematic, when mothers were not aware of their children’s overweight status, they had a lower self-efficacy to manage behaviors related to their child’s weight in comparison to mothers of normal weight children [ 17 , 18 ].…”