Food parenting and Children's eating behaviour: Exploring the role of coparenting

Sabrina Douglas; Gerarda Darlington; Kirsten Davison; John Beaton; Jess Haines

doi:10.1016/j.appet.2024.107367

Food parenting and Children's eating behaviour: Exploring the role of coparenting

Appetite. 2024 Apr 18:198:107367. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107367. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Sabrina Douglas¹, Gerarda Darlington², Kirsten Davison³, John Beaton⁴, Jess Haines⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road, Guelph, Ontario N1G2W1, Canada. Electronic address: sdougl02@uoguelph.ca.
² Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road, Guelph, Ontario N1G2W1, Canada. Electronic address: gdarling@uoguelph.ca.
³ Boston College School of Social Work, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA. Electronic address: kirsten.davison@bc.edu.
⁴ Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road, Guelph, Ontario N1G2W1, Canada. Electronic address: beaton@uoguelph.ca.
⁵ Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road, Guelph, Ontario N1G2W1, Canada. Electronic address: jhaines@uoguelph.ca.

PMID: 38640969
DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107367

Abstract

Parents have primary influence over the development of their children's eating behaviours, however less attention has been given to whether or how their coparenting plays a role in this association. The aim of this study was to investigate the cross-sectional associations between mothers' and fathers' food parenting practices and children's eating behaviour and examine whether coparenting quality moderates or confounds these associations. Parents (222 mothers and 167 fathers) with children 18 months to 5 years completed an online survey that assessed their food parenting practices and coparenting quality. One parent per family (91% mothers) also reported their children's food approach behaviours. We used linear regressions with generalized estimating equations to examine the associations between food parenting practices and children's eating behaviours. To explore moderation by coparenting quality, we included an interaction term in each model (coparenting quality x food parenting practice). To explore confounding, models were adjusted for coparenting quality. All models were stratified by parent gender and included parent educational attainment, child age, and child BMI z-scores as covariates. Among both mothers and fathers, we found that structure and autonomy support food parenting practices were inversely associated with children's food responsiveness, and desire to drink, while coercive control practices were positively associated with these food approach behaviours. We found the opposite direction of association between these food parenting practices and children's enjoyment of food. Among mothers, autonomy support was inversely associated with children's emotional overeating, while coercive control was positively associated with this eating behaviour. Coparenting quality did not moderate or confound the associations. Future studies should continue to explore these associations among families with young children and consider feeding coparenting in the association.

Keywords: Children; Coparenting quality; Eating behaviour; Family; Food parenting practices.