1-089 - How to feed your child: A focus on positive food parenting

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Research clearly demonstrates that parental feeding practices impact children’s dietary intake, eating behavior, and health outcomes. Most of the research in this field has focused on negative feeding practices, such as restriction and pressure to eat. Parents and practitioners are eager for guidance on what parents should do when they feed their children, not only what they should not do; however, very little research has taken this approach. The goal of this symposium is to better understand positive parental influences on children’s eating behaviors.

The first paper considers 15 positive food-parenting practices (mostly in the domains of structure and autonomy promotion), and the links between these practices and child eating behaviors. This paper also includes rich qualitative data from parents on their use of these practices. The second paper reports findings that structure-related feeding practices (e.g., meal setting, meal timing) are associated with children’s heightened levels of self-regulation in eating. The third paper examines the relatively new construct of mindful food parenting and how this parental practice relates to better child eating behaviors and dietary intake. Finally, the fourth paper utilized observational methods to look at both child-initiated and parent-initiated talk about energy regulation, and the links between these and children’s self-regulation of eating.

This symposium brings together research from multiple institutions and multiple methods (survey, qualitative, observational) to offer a positive perspective on how parents should feed their children to maximize children’s healthy intake and food related behaviors.

Sub Unit

• Health, Growth, Injury

Chair

• Dara Musher-Eizenman, Bowling Green State University

Individual Presentations

• A Comprehensive Look at Positive Food Parenting Behaviors as They Relate to Child Dietary and Behavioral Outcomes - Presenting Author: Lynnel Goodman, Bowling Green State University; Maija Taylor, Bowling Green State University; Dara Musher-Eizenman, Bowling Green State University

• The Relationship Between Structure-Related Feeding Practices and Children’s Heightened Levels of Self-Regulation in Eating - Presenting Author: Leslie Frankel, Psychological, Health, and Learning Sciences, University of Houston; Elisabeth M Powell, Department of Psychological, Health and Learning Sciences, University of Houston; Elena Jansen, Queensland University of Technology

• Mindful Feeding, Child Diet, and Child Problematic Eating Behaviors - Presenting Author: Maija Taylor, Bowling Green State University; Molly Meers, Nationwide Children's Hospital; Elizabeth Emley, Bowling Green State University; Dara Musher-Eizenman, Bowling Green State University

• Discussions of Hunger, Satiety, and Energy Regulation during Family Meals - Presenting Author: Shayla Holub, University of Texas at Dallas; Courtney Terry, University of Texas at Dallas; Davelle Cheng, University of Texas at Dallas; Thuy Trinh, University of Texas at Dallas; Sheena Ghalla, University of Texas at Dallas