The effect of nutritional attitudes of mothers as health care professionals on their children’s eating behaviors

Abstract

Objective This study aimed to determine the effects of the attitudes of mothers as health care professionals and their sociodemographic characteristics on their children’s eating habits. Methods The data of this descriptive and cross-sectional study were collected between January and March 2022, using a web-based survey of 386 mothers. Results The mean age of the mothers was 32.88±4.96 years, and the mean age of the children was 38.78±18.24 months. Regarding educational status, 62.7% of the mothers were university graduates, while 54.4% were nurses. A significant and positive correlation was found between the sub-dimensions of the Mother’s Attitudes towards the Feeding Process Scale and the Behavioral Pediatric Feeding Assessment scale (p=0.000). According to the multiple regression analysis, the main determinant of the picky eaters sub-dimension of the Behavioral Pediatric Feeding Assessment scale was the mother’s occupation (β=0.28; 95% Cl: 3.07, 6.50), the main determinant of the toddler refusal-general sub-dimension was negative affect during the meal (β=0.38; 95% Cl: 0.19, 0.32), the main determinant of the older children refusal - general sub-dimension was negative affect during the meal (β=0.30; 95% Cl: 0.16, 0.33), and the main determinant of the toddler refusal – textured foods sub-dimension was forced feeding (β=0.48; 95% Cl: 0.41, 0.63). Conclusion The study found that problems related to mothers’ attitudes toward the nutrition process were moderate and that these problems were mainly caused by mothers’ attitudes toward inadequate/unbalanced nutrition. It was also found that the children had moderate problematic eating behavior and eating habits.