Parenting style and child-feeding behavior in predicting children’s weight status change in Taiwan

Ho Jui Tung, Ming Chin Yeh

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective
The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children is on the rise worldwide. Prior studies find that parents’ child-feeding practices are associated with child weight status and the efficacy of specific parental child-feeding practices can be moderated by parenting styles. In the current longitudinal study, we examined the associations between child-feeding practices and weight status changes over 1 year among a sample of school-aged children in Taiwan.
Design
In autumn 2008, a child-feeding questionnaire and parenting-style questionnaire were administered to parents of the second and fourth graders in an elementary school in Taiwan. The weight and height of the students were measured by a trained school nurse in 2008 and again in 2009.
Setting
An elementary school in central Taiwan.
Subjects
A total of 465 parent–child pairs were included in the analysis.
Results
Using a gender- and age-adjusted BMI classification scheme issued by the Taiwan Department of Health, 29·2 % of the students were considered overweight at the 2009 measurement. Controlling for 2008 weight status revealed moderating effects of parenting style on the relationship between child-feeding practices and child weight status. Both authoritative and authoritarian mothers might monitor their children's dietary intake; however, the effectiveness of this practice was better, in terms of weight status control, among the authoritative mothers.
Conclusions
Findings suggest that parenting styles have a moderating effect on specific parental child-feeding practices. Parenting styles and parent's feeding practices could be an important focus for future public health interventions addressing the rising childhood obesity epidemic.
Original languageAmerican English
JournalPublic Health Nutrition
Volume17
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 18 2013

Keywords

  • Child-feeding practices
  • Childhood obesity
  • Parenting style

DC Disciplines

  • Public Health

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