Poster #39 - The Role of Child Temperament, Parenting Styles, and Parent Stress on Family Mealtime Quality

• In Event: Poster Session 07

Abstract

Background
Family mealtimes are characterized by routines and rituals that provide a consistent time, location, and structure for families to gather and communicate (Fiese et al., 2006; Skeer et al., 2018). These patterns over time may create a reliable environment for intricate parent-child interactions to develop and grow in complexity to support the child’s physical, behavioral, social, and mental development. Family meals can provide parents an extended time to engage in warm and encouraging parenting practices (Fiese et al., 2006), creating positive interactions and promoting positive social behavior and eating practices in children. In contrast, maladaptive mealtime environments have been shown to be related to increased aggressive and delinquent behaviors in children (Harbec & Pagani, 2018).
The manner in which mealtimes impact children, the mechanisms, and the inter-individual differences in parents and children must be considered in order to understand the impact family mealtimes have on child development. The ecologocial systems theory and the transactional model provide a framework for studying the multidirectional interactions of parent and child characteristics that act upon and influence each other and the structure and quality of the mealtime environment.
Hypotheses
The aim of the current study was to identify how child and parent characteristics predict the structure and the quality of mealtime environments. We specifically examined child temperament (negative affect), parental stress, and parent feeding style (responsiveness and demandingness).
We hypothesized that child negative affect (NA) and parent stress (PS) would be negatively associated with mealtime quality and structure, and this relationship would be mediated through parental responsiveness and demandingness (Models 1 and 2). Next, we predicted a serial mediation model, in which child NA would increase PS, which in turn would decrease parental responsiveness, leading to poorer mealtime quality and structure (Model 3).
Method
Participants were recruited through Amazon MTURK as part of a larger study. The sample included 150 parents (45.3% mothers; 54.7% fathers) of children ages two to six years (M=4.75). Forty-three families (28.7%) were participating in food assistance programs.
Measures included the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire Very Short Form (Putnam & Rothbart, 2006), Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983), Caregiver Feeding Styles Questionnaire (Hughes et al., 2005), and The Meals in Our Household Questionnaire (Anderson et al., 2012).
Results
Child NA and PS were associated with poorer mealtime quality and structure (problematic child behaviors, parent concern for child eating behaviors, and use of food as a reward; Figure 1). In Model 1, the associations between NA and mealtime characteristics were mediated through responsiveness, but not demandingness. In Model 2, the associations between PS and mealtime characteristics were mediated through responsiveness and demandingness. In Model 3, NA negatively predicted mealtime structure and quality through the serial mediation of PS and responsiveness (Figure 2).
Conclusions
These results emphasize the dynamic relationships between child temperament, parent stress, and parenting styles that occur within the mealtime context. Such research is important to understand family mealtime dynamics and inform interventions aimed at creating positive interactions between parents and children during family mealtimes.

Authors

• Lindsay Baker, University of North Florida
  Presenting Author

• Anita Fuglestad, University of North Florida

• Dawn Witherspoon