Does parenting affect children's eating and weight status?

Abstract

Background: Worldwide, the prevalence of obesity among children has increased dramatically. Although the etiology of childhood obesity is multifactorial, to date, most preventive interventions have focused on school-aged children in school settings and have met with limited success. In this review, we focus on another set of influences that impact the development of children's eating and weight status: parenting and feeding styles and practices. Our review has two aims: (1) to assess the extent to which current evidence supports the hypothesis that parenting, via its effects on children's eating, is causally implicated in childhood obesity; and (2) to identify a set of promising strategies that target aspects of parenting, which can be further evaluated as possible components in childhood obesity prevention.Methods: A literature review was conducted between October 2006 and January 2007. Studies published before January 2007 that assessed the association between some combination of parenting, child eating and child weight variables were included.Results: A total of 66 articles met the inclusion criteria. The preponderance of these studies focused on the association between parenting and child eating. Although there was substantial experimental evidence for the influence of parenting practices, such as pressure, restriction, modeling and availability, on child eating, the majority of the evidence for the association between parenting and child weight, or the mediation of this association by child eating, was cross-sectional. Conclusion:To date, there is substantial causal evidence that parenting affects child eating and there is much correlational evidence that child eating and weight influence parenting. There are few studies, however, that have used appropriate meditational designs to provide causal evidence for the indirect effect of parenting on weight status via effects on child eating. A new approach is suggested for evaluating the effectiveness of intervention components and creating optimized intervention programs using a multiphase research design. Adoption of approaches such as the Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST) is necessary to provide the mechanistic evidence-base needed for the design and implementation of effective childhood obesity prevention programs.

Associations of parental feeding styles with child snacking behaviour and weight in the context of general parenting

“…However, because of the large number of interaction terms tested, our moderation results should be interpreted with caution and more studies are needed before firm conclusions can be drawn. Although our study has the strength of combining parental feeding styles, snack intake, weight and parenting style in one study, which is exceptional in this field of research (21) , some limitations should be mentioned. First, we measured snack intake based on FFQ which may evoke social desirability bias and lead to overestimation of fruit consumption and underestimation of energy-dense snack and SSB intakes in parents and children (57,58) , especially in overweight subjects (e.g.…”

“…using food to temper a child's emotions), Encouragement to eat, and Control over eating (18) . Insight into such parental influences on children's snacking behaviour and weight may help the development of interventions targeted at parents (20)(21)(22) . However, data on parental feeding styles in relation to child snacking behaviour and BMI are inconsistent (see reference 23), e.g.…”

“…Associations between parental feeding styles and child snacking/weight are generally examined in cross-sectional studies, whereas longitudinal studies are sparse (21,(34)(35)(36) . Therefore, in the present study we examined cross-sectional and longitudinal (one-year follow up) associations of parental feeding styles with child snacking (fruit intake, energy-dense snacking and SSB intake) and child weight in a community-based sample of (on average) 9-year-old children.…”

Parental influences on children’s eating behaviour and characteristics of successful parent-focussed interventions

“…For example, overt restriction of foods has been associated with increased consumption of those foods when made freely available (e.g., Ventura & Birch, 2008) and greater weight gain overtime (Clark et al, 2007). Covert restriction, however, appears not to be related with such effects (Ogden, Reynolds, & Smith, 2006).…”

Measures of the home environment related to childhood obesity: a systematic review

“…There have also been a number of literature reviews on interventions targeting families to improve PA, diet and weight status in children (31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36) . In each case there has been a consistent call for assessing relevant home environment variables with validated measures.…”