Parenting Styles Apparent In Regulation Of Children’s Diet
Posted on: Thursday, 10 July 2008, 15:20 CDT
A study of almost 250 parents showed that parenting styles can be seen through the approach to a child’s diet.
Researchers found that parents who were strict in general also tended to have an "authoritarian" approach to their children's eating -- banning certain foods, for instance, or using pressure to get them to eat fruits and vegetables.
Conversely, “permissive” parents who let their children eat whatever they wanted tended to be permissive in their parenting styles as well.
Dr. Laura Hubbs-Tait and colleagues at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, found that parents who fell somewhere between permissive and authoritarian were those who set limits on their kids’ diets and enforced them through more positive approaches, such as leading by example, to get their kids to eat well. Researchers call this approach “authoritative.”
Researchers said that an authoritative effort was the best way to influence a child’s diet.
Both the strict and permissive parents typically failed to serve as good dietary role models for their children in the study.
Parents' general styles are important in their children's diets, Hubbs-Tait and colleagues wrote in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
Their findings also indicate that parents’ efforts to get their children to lose weight are "not likely to be successful" unless the underlying family dynamics are addressed.
“Due to the infrequency of healthy eating modeled by both permissive and authoritarian parents," the researchers write, "food and nutrition professionals might encourage both to begin more healthy eating -- for the sake of their own health and that of their children."
"Food and nutrition professionals who are implementing dietary change or obesity treatment programs need to include more complex approaches to behavioral change that include parenting styles and family dynamics," they conclude.
---
On the Net:
Journal of the American Dietetic Association
Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
Related Articles
- Children's Memorial Research Center, Chicago Becomes a Member of GeneGo's MetaMiner Stem Cell Partnership Program
- Nationwide Children's Hospital Research Institute Selects PhoneFactor for Two-Factor Authentication
- Sanford Children's Health Research Center to Be Dedicated in La Jolla
- AT&T Sings Contract With Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland
- AT&T Announces New Contract With Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland
- Children Can Be Cured of Sickle Cell Disease and Thalassemia After Sibling Cord Blood Transplantation: Results From ViaCell and Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland
- Children's Medical Research Institute Receives Grant to Research Genetic Condition
- Children's Medical Research Institute, Chickasaws Create Diabetes Research Chair
- Children's Medical Research Institute Appoints A. Gardner to Endowed Chair in Pediatric Diabetes
- Researchers to Track Moose Eating Habits
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds