Increasing the insufficient intake of vegetables in children may be difficult, due to the influence of parents and at-home accessibility. The aim of this study was to analyze the association between self-reported vegetable consumption behaviors and preferences of mothers and the behaviors and preferences of their children, as declared by them. The nationally representative Polish (n = 1200) and Romanian (n = 1157) samples of mothers of children aged 3-10 were obtained using the random quota sampling method, and interviewed for their and their children's general frequency of consumption and preferences of vegetables in years 2012-2014. A 24 h dietary recall of vegetable consumption was conducted for mothers and their children. Associations were observed for general number of servings consumed per day by mother-child pairs (p < 0.0001; R = 0.6522, R = 0.6573 for Polish and Romanian samples, respectively) and number of types indicated as preferred (p < 0.0001; R = 0.5418, R = 0.5433). The share of children consuming specific vegetables was 33.1-75.3% and 42.6-75.7% while their mothers also consumed, but 0.1-43.2% and 1.2-22.9% while their mothers did not. The share of children preferring specific vegetables was 16.7-74.1% and 15.2-100% when their mother shared the preference, but 1.3-46.9% and 0-38.3% when their mother did not. The mothers' vegetable consumption behaviors and preferences may be a factor limiting the possibility of increasing vegetable consumption in their children.
Keywords: children; choice; consumption behaviors; mothers; preferences; vegetable intake.