Parenting Practices and Adolescents' Eating Behaviors in African American Families

Lillie Monroe-Lord; Blake L Jones; Rickelle Richards; Marla Reicks; Carolyn Gunther; Jinan Banna; Glade L Topham; Alex Anderson; Karina R Lora; Siew Sun Wong; Miriam Ballejos; Laura Hopkins; Azam Ardakani

doi:10.3390/ijerph19010110

Parenting Practices and Adolescents' Eating Behaviors in African American Families

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Dec 23;19(1):110. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19010110.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Center for Nutrition, Diet and Health, University of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC 20008, USA.
² Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA.
³ Department of Nutrition, Dietetics & Food Science, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA.
⁴ Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
⁵ Human Nutrition Program, Department of Human Sciences, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
⁶ Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences, University of Hawaii-Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
⁷ Department of Applied Human Sciences, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA.
⁸ Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
⁹ Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
¹⁰ School of Biological and Population Health Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
¹¹ Nutrition & Exercise Physiology, Washington State University, 412 E. Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99202, USA.
¹² Department of Public Health and Prevention Sciences, Baldwin Wallace University, 275 Eastland Rd., Berea, OH 44017, USA.
¹³ Department of Nutritional Sciences, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA.

Abstract

Parents play an important role in developing the eating behaviors of their children by adopting specific parenting practices. As the prevalence of obesity is high amongst African American adolescents, investigations into associations of specific parenting practices and adolescents' eating behaviors are essential. In this exploratory study, 14 African American parent-adolescent dyads were interviewed to characterize the influence of eight different parenting practices on the consumption of three main food categories (dairy, fruits and vegetables, and unhealthy snacks). The results revealed that authoritarian parenting practices were correlated with a higher BMI percentile in adolescents, whereas modeling and monitoring are correlated with a higher parent BMI. In addition, reasoning, monitoring, modeling, and authoritative parenting practices were associated with less unhealthy snack consumption among adolescents. Reasoning and monitoring were the only parenting practices associated with higher fruit and vegetable consumption. Finally, a significant correlation was found between eating fruits and vegetables and unhealthy snacks and the location of eating. In conclusion, different parenting practices and environmental factors may impact BMI and food consumption of African American dyads. The results of this study can be used to guide improvement in, and/or development of, nutritional education interventions considering the cultural differences of racial minorities.

Keywords: African American; adolescents; eating behavior; low income; parenting practice.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Black or African American*
Child
Eating
Ethnic and Racial Minorities
Feeding Behavior
Humans
Parent-Child Relations
Parenting*
Surveys and Questionnaires