Food consumption, eating behaviour and self-esteem among singlev. married and cohabiting mothers and their 12-year-old children

Abstract

Objective: Being a single mother may have implications for health behaviours that can also affect the child. More information about the food intakes and body weights in single v. married/cohabiting mothers and in their children is needed. Psychological dimensions of eating behaviour and self-esteem are also of relevance to explore for single mothers and their children. Design: Food style patterns were assessed by self-reported consumption of fruits, vegetables, sweets and soft drinks. Eating behaviour was measured by the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire and self-esteem by the Harter self-perception scale. The participants were 1781 mothers and their 12-year-old children, of whom 278 mothers (16 %) were single. Results: Single mothers had lower intake of fruits and vegetables and lower selfworth compared to the married and cohabiting mothers, controlling for age, education and BMI. Although single mothers did not have a higher BMI, their daughters were heavier than girls from complete families. Daughters to single mothers furthermore had a higher intake of soft drinks, higher levels of restrained eating and lower self-worth. No such difference was found for the boys. Conclusions: A lower sense of self-worth and lower intake of fruit and vegetables in single mothers could be seen in the context of the social disadvantages and less social support. Girls may be more inclined to be affected by family status than the boys, seen in a more unfortunate psychological pattern and a higher body weight. Boy's health behaviours may be more unaffected by living in single families.

Differences in nutritional status of preschool children in the context of the maternal social characteristics

“…showed restrictive patterns of eating more frequently than the girls from full families [35]. Considering social characteristics such as education or age of the mother, research results are rather consistent and show that these variables are significant for the child's nutritional status.…”

“…The results achieved by Camara et al [23] have shown that the mother's relationship status (single or with a partner) does not influence the way of feeding a child. In contrast, some research underlines the relationship between the health status and relationship status -being single relates to more unhealthy behavior [15,29,[35][36][37]. Research including pregnant women has shown that single mothers living with their parents consumed less fruit, vegetables and fiber and their diet contained more calories as compared to the reference group (married/with a partner).…”

Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors In Eastern Europe study: dietary patterns and their association with socio-demographic factors in the Lithuanian urban population of Kaunas city

“…Some investigators have shown that poor self rated health was related to a low score on the prudent food intake pattern (prudent food was characterized by a frequent intake of whole meal bread, fruits and vegetables) (Osler et al 2001). Recent data demonstrated that marital status has been recognized as a significant health-influencing factor and being a single may have implications for health behaviours (Yannakoulia et al 2008; Elfhag and Rasmussen 2008). The findings of the other surveys on the association between marital status and dietary patterns are inconsistent: some investigators have shown that dietary patterns of married people are healthier (Fraser et al 2000; Riediger and Moghadasian 2008); other investigators have shown that dietary patterns were associated with marital status in men and women differently (Kriaucioniene et al 2008).…”

Psycho Social Aspects of Tribal Unwed Mothers

“…Research also indicates that being alone and lacking severe commitment from the part of Childs father effect the mother self esteem. 25,26 …”