Changing children's food preferences: parent opinions

Mental health matters: Parent mental health and children's emotional eating

Parents' symptoms of anxiety and depression are associated with their increased likelihood of using nonresponsive feeding practices and with children's elevated obesity risk. These feeding practices, particularly persuasive-controlling feeding practices, have further been linked to children's emotional eating, including both emotional overeating and undereating. To help future research identify points of interventions to reduce children's maladaptive eating behaviors, the goal of this study was to determine whether persuasive-controlling feeding practices mediated the link between parent mental health and children's emotional eating. Feeding practices were measured by the FPSQ. Anxiety was measured by the GAD-7. Depression was measured by the CESD-R. Emotional eating was measured by the CEBQ. Survey data were collected from 259 U.S. parents of preschool children as a part of a larger study. Results from structural equation modeling showed that nonresponsive feeding behaviors mediated the relationship between parent mental health and children's emotional eating. Future longitudinal studies and clinical trials should examine whether and how persuasive-controlling feeding practices explain the link between parents' mental health and children's maladaptive eating behaviors, including emotional eating.

Precision Food Parenting: A Proposed Conceptual Model and Research Agenda

Precision medicine, nutrition and behavioral interventions are attempting to move beyond the specification of therapies applied to groups, since some people benefit, some do not and some are harmed by the same therapy. Instead, precision therapies are attempting to employ diverse sets of data to individualize or tailor interventions to optimize the benefits for the receiving individuals. The benefits to be achieved are mostly in the distant future, but the research needs to start now. While precision pediatric nutrition will combine diverse demographic, behavioral and biological variables to specify the optimal foods a child should eat to optimize health, precision food parenting will combine diverse parent and child psychosocial and related variables to identify the optimal parenting practices to help a specific child accept and consume the precision nutrition specified foods. This paper presents a conceptual overview and hypothetical model of factors we believe are needed to operationalize precision food parenting and a proposed research agenda to better understand the many specified relationships, how they change over the age of the child, and how to operationalize them to encourage food parenting practices most likely to be effective at promoting healthy child food choices.

Food Texture Acceptance, Sensory Sensitivity, and Food Neophobia in Children and Their Parents

This study aims to explore whether children's food texture preferences are associated with different levels of sensory sensitivity and food neophobia, as well as with other variables, such as parental texture preferences. An online questionnaire was completed by 70 children aged 6-13 years old, alongside one of their parents. Generic texture preferences of children and parents were investigated with the Child Food Texture Preference Questionnaire (CFTPQ). Parents provided background information about their children by completing the Food Neophobia Scale (FNS), the Short Sensory Profile (SSP) and a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). The results showed that children who differed in their texture-liker status also differed in their levels of food neophobia and sensory information processing: children who preferred softer and non-particulate versions of foods were found to be more neophobic and sensory sensitive across all sensory domains. No relationship was found between parental and children's texture preferences.

The Forbidden Reward. The Emergence of Parent-Child Conflicts About Food Over Time and the Influence of Parents' Communication Strategies and Feeding Practices

One of the most critical arenas for conflicts between parents and their children relates to food. Although parent-child conflicts about food are a real occurrence, this form of parent-child interaction has been rarely examined. Given the special role of parents in shaping children's diet, we especially focus on the impact of parental measures. This study investigates how parental communication strategies (i.e., active vs. restrictive) and feeding practices (i.e., overt control vs. covert control) affect the emergence of parent-child conflicts about food over time. Based on previous research, we assessed overt control through parents' use of food as a reward and restriction of their children's access to specific food types. We explored the impact of our predictors on both conflicts about unhealthy and healthy food with a two-wave panel study including parents and their children (N = 541; children aged between 5 and 11) in Austria between fall 2018 and spring 2019. Results of two multiple linear regressions indicated that predominantly parents' use of unhealthy food as a reward is connected to both healthy and unhealthy food conflicts. Furthermore, inconsistent parental educational styles increased the respective conflict potential. Active food-related mediation and covert control did not relate to food-related conflicts about unhealthy and healthy food. Parents' increased use of overtly controlling and restrictive feeding practices might not be only counterproductive for children's diet but also for food-related parent-child interactions. Instead, a “health discourse” (i.e., active food-related mediation) might prevent food-related conflicts and foster a healthy growth in the future.

The Relationships between Maternal Feeding Practices and Food Neophobia and Picky Eating

Food neophobia and picky eating (FNPE) are dietary behaviors that have been frequently reported to coexist in children. Parental concerns about these dietary behaviors may influence the feeding practices employed. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated the bidirectional associations of maternal feeding practices with children’s FNPE behaviors. Using a convenience sampling technique, mothers of 195 healthy children aged 1–7 years were invited to complete a sociodemographic questionnaire, rate their child’s FNPE, and rate the extent to which each feeding practice was employed with the child. Maternal reports indicated that 37.4% (n = 73) of the children exhibited severe FNPE. Multiple linear regression analyses showed positive two-way associations between the “pressure to eat” feeding strategy and FNPE, and negative two-way associations between a healthy home food environment and FNPE. However, maternal practices of teaching and monitoring were not found to be associated with FNPE. Given the bidirectional relationships observed between FNPE and maternal feeding practices, primary health care providers should address the feeding practices used with a child and indicate that coercive feeding practices are counterproductive. Intervention studies targeting mothers of children with FNPE are needed to investigate whether specific maternal practices are more effective than others.

Cooking together: The IKEA effect on family vegetable intake

OBJECTIVE

Based on the idea of the 'IKEA effect', assuming that individuals like self-created objects more than objects created by someone else, this study hypothesizes that parents' involvement of their children in meal planning and preparation is positively related to vegetable intake, mediated via liking vegetables.

DESIGN

Longitudinal observational study with two time points (10-month interval).

METHOD

Nine hundred and twenty-four parent-child dyads filled out questionnaires measuring involvement, vegetable liking, vegetable intake, and further environmental and food-related determinants of vegetable intake. On average, parents were M = 36.10 (SD = 5.43) and children (54.3% girls) M = 8.24 (SD = 1.44; range 6-11) years old. Hypotheses were tested with path analyses, accounting for intra-dyadic associations among respective constructs (e.g., parents' and children's liking vegetables).

RESULTS

Two direct effects were found: (1) parents' involvement of their children in cooking activities impacted children's liking of vegetables and vegetable intake, and (2) liking vegetables impacted vegetable intake. The effect of involvement on vegetable intake was mediated via liking vegetables, but only for children and not for parents.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings emphasize the importance of parents' encouragement for involving children in the preparation of healthy meals, as this improves liking of vegetables and, thereby, increases their vegetable intake. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Processes behind the effectiveness of shared cooking activities to increase vegetable intake are unclear. Previous research suggests the IKEA effect as an explanation. It assumes a higher consumption of self-created products due to a higher liking compared to third-party products. What does this study add? First test of the IKEA effect for joint cooking activities under consideration of spillover effects in families. Affirmation of the IKEA effect was found for children, not for parents. Interventions should focus on the involvement of children in cooking activities to improve vegetable intake.

Association Between Maternal Feeding Practices and Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression Among 6-Year-Old Children

Background:

Maternal feeding practices (MFPs) have been linked to childhood obesity and other eating disorders. However, population-based research examining the association between MFPs and children’s emotional well-being is currently lacking.

Methods:

We examined 1241 participants from Year 6 Follow-Up of the Infant Feeding Practices Study II, conducted from March to June 2012 in the United States.

Results:

Approximately 57.5% and 47.8% of participants reported at least one symptom of childhood anxiety and depression, respectively. After adjusting for potential confounders, mothers who responded “yes” to “If I did not guide or regulate my child’s eating, he or she would eat too much of his or her favorite food” had higher odds of having a child who has symptoms of depression and anxiety compared with mothers who responded “no” (odds ratio [OR], 95% confidence interval [CI]) (2.02; 1.47-2.78, P < .001) and (1.41, 1.05-1.91, P = .024), respectively. The odds of having a child who has symptoms of depression were lower among mothers who responded “yes” to “I make sure that my child does not eat too many sweets or junk foods” compared with mothers who responded “no” (0.49; 0.26-0.91, P = .020). Mothers who responded “yes” to “I encourage my 6 year-old to eat all of the food on his or her plate” had higher odds of having a child who has symptoms of anxiety compared with mothers who responded “no” (1.43; 1.01-2.05, P = .049).

Conclusions:

Controlling MFPs may influence a child’s emotional well-being. Further research is needed to address the complex relationships between MFPs and psychosocial well-being in children.

Children eat more food when they prepare it themselves

Encouraging children to participate in food preparation is recommended by pediatric guidelines and has been included in public health interventions. However, little is known about whether the act of preparing a food specifically increases children's intake of that food, nor is it known whether this effect might differ for healthy and familiar unhealthy foods. The present study examines whether 5- to 7-year-old children eat more of a food they prepared themselves compared to the same food prepared by someone else. Children participated in a laboratory study in which they prepared either a salad or a dessert and then had the opportunity to eat the food they prepared and/or a nearly identical food prepared by someone else. We found that children ate more of a food they prepared themselves, but no significant difference was observed in children's ratings of each food. In addition to eating more healthy foods they prepared themselves, children ate more unhealthy foods they prepared themselves, including familiar and well-liked desserts. More specific recommendations are needed if the goal of involving children in food preparation is to promote health.

Associations between Parenting Style and Parent and Toddler Mealtime Behaviors

Background: By the time a child is 24 mo old, 50% of parents report experiencing picky eating behaviors with their child. These behaviors include consuming an inadequate dietary variety, eating the same foods repeatedly, and an unwillingness to try either new or familiar foods. Previous research has established relations with regard to the impact of parent feeding strategies on child mealtime behaviors and how parent feeding strategies are influenced by parenting style; however, to our knowledge, no studies have investigated whether there is an association between parenting style and perceived child mealtime behaviors specifically related to picky eating. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a relation exists between general parenting style and both parent feeding strategies and perceived picky eater and non-picky eater (NPE) behaviors. Methods: Parents of 2- to 5-y-old children (n = 525) completed 2 online surveys: 1) the Mealtime Assessment Survey, which measures the frequency of parent and child mealtime behaviors, and 2) the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire, which measures authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles. Spearman's correlation analysis was conducted to determine the relations between parenting style and mealtime behavior. Results: Positive correlations were found between an authoritative parenting style and NPE behaviors, as well as parent mealtime strategies that promote positive eating habits. Authoritarian and permissive parenting styles were positively correlated with child behaviors associated with picky eating and parent mealtime strategies that can negatively influence child feeding. Conclusions: These findings suggest that a relation exists between general parenting style and both parent and child mealtime behaviors; however, the directionality of the relation remains unknown. The positive correlations seen within the authoritative parenting style with regard to NPE behaviors suggest the use of authoritative feeding methods to overcome feeding difficulties.

Social is special: A normative framework for teaching with and learning from evaluative feedback

Humans often attempt to influence one another's behavior using rewards and punishments. How does this work? Psychologists have often assumed that "evaluative feedback" influences behavior via standard learning mechanisms that learn from environmental contingencies. On this view, teaching with evaluative feedback involves leveraging learning systems designed to maximize an organism's positive outcomes. Yet, despite its parsimony, programs of research predicated on this assumption, such as ones in developmental psychology, animal behavior, and human-robot interaction, have had limited success. We offer an explanation by analyzing the logic of evaluative feedback and show that specialized learning mechanisms are uniquely favored in the case of evaluative feedback from a social partner. Specifically, evaluative feedback works best when it is treated as communicating information about the value of an action rather than as a form of reward to be maximized. This account suggests that human learning from evaluative feedback depends on inferences about communicative intent, goals and other mental states-much like learning from other sources, such as demonstration, observation and instruction. Because these abilities are especially developed in humans, the present account also explains why evaluative feedback is far more widespread in humans than non-human animals.

Investigating offering of vegetables by caregivers of preschool age children

BACKGROUND

Research into the methods which caregivers use to encourage children to eat vegetables is limited, with minimal evidence about what the barriers are to offering these foods. Vegetable consumption in children is typically low, and so gaining information on these factors is vital in order to develop further caregiver-centred interventions to increase children's vegetable consumption. This study aimed to investigate the methods caregivers use to offer vegetables to preschool aged children, as well as the factors which influence whether and how caregivers present vegetables to their children.

METHOD

Seventeen caregivers with a preschool aged child participated in focus groups to assess these questions.

RESULTS

Thematic analysis indicated that caregivers use a range of methods to offer their children vegetables, with these methods falling into three broad categories: behavioural/active methods, passive methods and food manipulations. Influences on caregiver offering which emerged from the focus groups formed four categories: information, cost, parent factors and child factors.

CONCLUSIONS

Together with large-scale quantitative data, this information can be used to shape future interventions aiming to increase children's vegetable intake as well as to tailor advice given to caregivers striving to achieve a healthful diet for their children.

Strategies used by parents to influence their children's food preferences

BACKGROUND

Food preferences are important determinants of children's food intakes. Parental feeding behaviours have a significant influence on the development of children's food preferences. The aim of the present study was to describe the ways in which parents attempt to influence their children's food preferences.

METHODS

Parents of 2-5 year old children participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews, which were transcribed and content analysed using a thematic coding manual. The parents described the ways in which they tried to influence the foods their child liked and disliked. Participants (N = 57) were separated into three separate groups based on an a priori study measuring food preferences and food neophobia: those who either had children with healthy food preferences (i.e. closely aligned with dietary guidelines) (N = 20), or unhealthy food preferences (i.e. not closely aligned with dietary guidelines) (N = 18), or high levels of food neophobia (N = 19).

RESULTS

The parents used many, diverse behaviours to influence their child's food preferences. Some of these behaviours were likely to be effective in promoting healthy food preferences in children (e.g. parental modelling, food exposure), whilst others were likely to be ineffective (e.g. forcing consumption, restricting food access). Parents of children with healthy food preferences appeared to use more of the feeding behaviours predicted to promote healthy preferences than parents in the other two groups. Parents of children with unhealthy food preferences and those of food neophobic children appeared to rely more on ineffective behaviours.

CONCLUSION

Parents used a mixture of effective and ineffective behaviours, with parents of children with unhealthy food preferences or high food neophobia using fewer behaviours known to be effective. Interventions aimed at influencing parental feeding behaviours should include those behaviours targeted at children's food preferences.

Perceived recollection of frequent exposure to foods in childhood is associated with adulthood liking

Food preferences and habits learned at a young age can influence adulthood dietary patterns and weight, but the mechanism remains to be elucidated. We investigated the effect of perceived recollections of early food experiences on current liking for those foods by 670 college students. We showed that the perceived recollection of frequent consumption of foods in childhood was significantly related to current liking for the vast majority of the foods, including nutritious foods such as vegetables. Similarly, parental encouragement and modeling was positively related with current liking, even for foods that were disliked in childhood. Additionally, perceived recollections of parental restriction or forced consumption were significantly negatively related with current liking. Lastly, we demonstrated that perceived recollections by college students of childhood eating practices were in moderate agreement with those of their parents, lending credibility to the retrospective survey methodology in determining long-term effects of exposure on current food habits. These findings show that the perceived recalled frequency of consumption of foods is one determinant of the food preferences of adults, demonstrating a long-term effect of frequency of exposure, a finding consistent with experimentally controlled short-term studies. Frequent exposure to foods in childhood could be a simple and effective way for parents and caregivers to instill healthy eating habits in children.

Feeding style differences in food parenting practices associated with fruit and vegetable intake in children from low-income families

OBJECTIVE

To examine the moderating effects of feeding styles on the relationship between food parenting practices and fruit and vegetable (F & V) intake in low-income families with preschool-aged children.

DESIGN

Focus group meetings with Head Start parents were conducted by using the nominal group technique. Parents completed information on food parenting practices and feeding styles. Three dietary recalls were collected on each child.

SETTING

Parents completed measures in Head Start centers and/or over the telephone.

PARTICIPANTS

667 parents of preschool-aged children participated.

OUTCOMES

Food parenting practices and F & V intake.

ANALYSIS

Mean differences in the food parenting practices across the 4 feeding styles were established through multivariate general linear modeling using MANOVA. Moderated multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the moderating role of feeding style on food parenting practices and child F & V intake.

RESULTS

The indulgent feeding style moderated the relationship between food parenting practices and child F & V intake.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

This study indicates that parents' feeding styles have a moderating effect on the relationship between the food parenting practices and children's F & V intake. This finding can facilitate the development of interventions aimed at reducing childhood overweight.

Beyond the Paleolithic prescription: incorporating diversity and flexibility in the study of human diet evolution

Evolutionary paradigms of human health and nutrition center on the evolutionary discordance or "mismatch" model in which human bodies, reflecting adaptations established in the Paleolithic era, are ill-suited to modern industrialized diets, resulting in rapidly increasing rates of chronic metabolic disease. Though this model remains useful, its utility in explaining the evolution of human dietary tendencies is limited. The assumption that human diets are mismatched to the evolved biology of humans implies that the human diet is instinctual or genetically determined and rooted in the Paleolithic era. This review looks at current research indicating that human eating habits are learned primarily through behavioral, social, and physiological mechanisms that start in utero and extend throughout the life course. Adaptations that appear to be strongly genetic likely reflect Neolithic, rather than Paleolithic, adaptations and are significantly influenced by human niche-constructing behavior. Several examples are used to conclude that incorporating a broader understanding of both the evolved mechanisms by which humans learn and imprint eating habits and the reciprocal effects of those habits on physiology would provide useful tools for structuring more lasting nutrition interventions.

A narrative review of psychological and educational strategies applied to young children's eating behaviours aimed at reducing obesity risk

Strategies to reduce risk of obesity by influencing preschool children's eating behaviour are reviewed. The studies are placed in the context of relevant psychological processes, including inherited and acquired preferences, and behavioural traits, such as food neophobia, 'enjoyment of food' and 'satiety responsiveness'. These are important influences on how children respond to feeding practices, as well as predictors of obesity risk. Nevertheless, in young children, food environment and experience are especially important for establishing eating habits and food preferences. Providing information to parents, or to children, on healthy feeding is insufficient. Acceptance of healthy foods can be encouraged by five to ten repeated tastes. Recent evidence suggests rewarding healthy eating can be successful, even for verbal praise alone, but that palatable foods should not be used as rewards for eating. Intake of healthier foods can be promoted by increasing portion size, especially in the beginning of the meal. Parental strategies of pressuring to eat and restriction do not appear to be causally linked to obesity, but are instead primarily responses to children's eating tendencies and weight. Moderate rather than frequent restriction may improve healthy eating in children. Actively positive social modelling by adults and peers can be effective in encouraging healthier eating.

Rewards can be used effectively with repeated exposure to increase liking of vegetables in 4–6-year-old children

Objective

To examine whether parents offering a sticker reward to their child to taste a vegetable the child does not currently consume is associated with improvements in children's liking and consumption of the vegetable.

Design

A randomized controlled trial evaluated the effectiveness of exposure only (EO) and exposure plus reward (E + R), relative to a control group, on children's liking and consumption of a target vegetable. Assessments were conducted at baseline and 2 weeks from baseline (post-intervention). Follow-up assessments were conducted at 4 weeks and 3 months from baseline.

Setting

The study took place in Adelaide, South Australia. Participants were self-selected in response to local media advertisements seeking to recruit parents finding it difficult to get their children to eat vegetables.

Subjects

Participants were 185 children (110 boys, seventy-five girls) aged 4–6 years and their primary caregiver/parent (172 mothers, thirteen fathers).

Results

The E + R group was able to achieve more days of taste exposure. Both EO and E + R increased liking at post-intervention compared with control and no further change occurred over the follow-up period. All groups increased their intake of the target vegetable at post-intervention. Target vegetable consumption continued to increase significantly over the follow-up period for E + R and control but not for EO.

Conclusions

The findings provide support for the effectiveness of using a sticker reward with a repeated exposure strategy. In particular, such rewards can facilitate the actual tastings necessary to change liking.

Contributors to Pediatric Obesity in Adolescence: More than just Energy Imbalance

Disentangling the etiology of pediatric obesity continues to challenge researchers. Due to rapid growth and development, changes in the hormonal milieu, increased autonomy in feeding practices and greater interactions with environmental factors, adolescence is a particularly important period for the determination of body composition trajectories and the relationship to current and future obesity outcomes. A plethora of studies have focused on excess energy consumption and physical inactivity as they relate to weight and fat gain in adolescence. Although these "Big Two" have an impact, the increasing trends in pediatric obesity are not accounted for solely by increased energy intake and decreased physical activity. Indeed, under similar conditions of energy balance, inter-individual variation in fat accumulation has been consistently noted. It is becoming more evident that additional factors may contribute independently and/or synergistically to the increase in obesity. Such factors include (but are not limited to) metabolic programming in utero and in early childhood, the hormonal environment, endocrine disruptors, parental feeding practices, and the built environment. Our objective, therefore, is to investigate possible factors, particularly in adolescence that contributes to the increase in pediatric obesity beyond "The Big Two".

Eating for pleasure or profit: the effect of incentives on children's enjoyment of vegetables

Parents commonly use rewards to encourage children to eat healthfully, but this practice remains controversial because rewards are suspected of undermining children's intrinsic motivation. A cluster-randomized trial examined children's acceptance of a disliked vegetable over 12 daily taste exposures. These exposures were paired with a tangible reward, a social reward, or no reward, and the findings were compared with the results from a no-treatment control condition. Liking and intake of the vegetable were assessed in a free-choice consumption task at preintervention, postintervention, 1 month after intervention, and 3 months after intervention. Liking increased more in the three intervention conditions than in the control condition, and there were no significant differences between the intervention conditions. These effects were maintained at follow-up. Children in both reward conditions increased consumption, and these effects were maintained for 3 months; however, the effects of exposure with no reward became nonsignificant by 3 months. These results indicate that external rewards do not necessarily produce negative effects and may be useful in promoting healthful eating.

Disordered eating in adulthood is associated with reported weight loss attempts in childhood

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether history of attempted weight loss in childhood (age ≤ 12 years) is associated with binge eating disorder (BED) and unhealthy weight loss behaviors in adults.

METHOD

Cross-sectional analysis from baseline visit data of 588 participants of a clinical trial. Data were collected from survey answers on health status, nutritional status, weight loss history, and weight loss behaviors.

RESULTS

History of childhood weight loss attempts was associated with high odds of BED in adults (odds ratio [OR] 3.4; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.8-6.3) and high odds of unhealthy weight loss behaviors (OR 2.3; 95% CI 1.2, 2.6). A linear trend was observed in which young age at first attempted weight loss was associated with increased odds of both BED and unhealthy weight loss behaviors.

DISCUSSION

Weight loss attempts in childhood may be a risk factor for the development of unhealthy eating behaviors and BED in adults.

Inferring attitudes from mindwandering

Self-perception theory posits that people understand their own attitudes and preferences much as they understand others', by interpreting the meaning of their behavior in light of the context in which it occurs. Four studies tested whether people also rely on unobservable "behavior," their mindwandering, when making such inferences. It is proposed here that people rely on the content of their mindwandering to decide whether it reflects boredom with an ongoing task or a reverie's irresistible pull. Having the mind wander to positive events, to concurrent as opposed to past activities, and to many events rather than just one tends to be attributed to boredom and therefore leads to perceived dissatisfaction with an ongoing task. Participants appeared to rely spontaneously on the content of their wandering minds as a cue to their attitudes, but not when an alternative cause for their mindwandering was made salient.

The Parent Mealtime Action Scale (PMAS). Development and association with children's diet and weight

A new and comprehensive Parent Mealtime Action Scale (PMAS) was developed to identify dimensions of mealtime behaviors used by parents, then examined for its usefulness to explain variance in children's diet and weight status. Exploratory factor analysis with 2008 mothers and two confirmatory factor analyses with 541 mothers and 439 fathers produced a 31-item scale with nine dimensions. Mothers reported more gentle PMAS actions like setting SNACK LIMITS, ensuring DAILY FV AVAILABILITY, and using FAT REDUCTION and POSITIVE PERSUASION during meals, whereas fathers reported more forceful PMAS actions like INSISTENCE ON EATING. Seven PMAS dimensions explained variance in children's diet and weight status even when in competition with three well-known predictors (genetic risk, exercise, television). Children with healthier diets and weight had parents who often ensured DAILY FV AVAILABILITY and used FAT REDUCTION, POSITIVE PERSUASION, and INSISTENCE ON EATING during meals, but who rarely showed SNACK MODELING, allowed children too MANY FOOD CHOICES, or made them SPECIAL MEALS different from the shared family meal. Parents also may respond to children's overweight by using more FAT REDUCTION. The PMAS offers a new research, clinical, and educational tool to guide parents in actions most associated with children's diet and weight status.

Observing others’ behavior and risk taking in decisions from experience

This paper examines how observing other people’s behavior affects risk taking in repeated decision tasks. In Study 1, 100 participants performed experience-based decision tasks either alone or in pairs, with the two members being exposed to each others’ choices and outcomes. The tasks involved either equiprobable gains and losses or frequent small gains and rare large losses. The results indicated that, in both risk types, the social exposure increased the proportion of risky selection, but its effect was stronger in the rare-loss condition. In Study 2 the rare-loss task was administered to 32 study participants, with a target individual observing the choices of a paired individual. The results showed that observing others, rather than being observed, led to the pattern of increased risk taking. The findings of the two studies indicate the importance of distinguishing different types of risky situations and shed light on contradictory findings in the literature.

Gross for kids but good for parents: differing messages in advertisements for the same products

Objectives

There has been surprisingly little research into the effects of food advertising on parents’ perception of commonly consumed children’s food items, although the available research suggests that parents may find nutritional claims in these advertisements confusing. The purpose of the present study was to investigate parents’ perceptions of branded snack foods targeted at children, and the extent to which these perceptions are influenced by advertising messages.

Design

Using an intercept survey, participants were shown either adult-targeted or child-targeted advertisements for the same food products.

Setting

Central business district of a major Australian city.

Subjects

One hundred adults, mean age 40 years.

Results

The study results suggest that: (1) adults’ perceptions of advertised food products and, most importantly, purchase intentions for those products differ according to the version of the advertisement seen (for three of the products, 42–54% would buy the product after seeing the child version compared with 82–84% after seeing the adult version); and (2) adults clearly perceive distinctly different messages in advertisements for the same products which are targeting parents vs. those targeting children (e.g. for three of the products, 74–92% perceived that the adult version of the advertisement suggested the food was nutritionally beneficial compared with 2–14% perceiving this for the child version).

Conclusions

It is clear that the messages conveyed to children about specific foods are quite different to the messages conveyed to adults – and importantly parents – about the same foods.

The role of parental control practices in explaining children's diet and BMI

This paper aimed to investigate which parents use which types of parenting control practices to manage their children's diets and to assess the impact of these practices on children's dietary patterns and their BMI. A cross-sectional survey of 518 parents with children aged 4-7 years was carried out in 18 primary schools across the South of England. Measures included aspects of parental control practices and the child's diet. Results showed that older parents with a lower BMI and who were stay at home parents used more "snack overt control", "snack covert control" and "meal covert control" and those with more education used more covert control strategies. In contrast, male, non-white parents with younger children used more "pressure to eat". In terms of the children's diet, the results showed links between parental and child demographics and aspects of unhealthy and healthy food intake. In addition, links were also found for parental control practices. For example, eating more unhealthy snacks was related to less covert control and more pressure to eat, eating fruit and vegetables was related to higher levels of both overt and covert control over meals and less pressure to eat and being neophobic was related to less covert control over meals and more pressure to eat. The children's BMIs were unrelated to any variables measured in the study.

Achieving fruit, juice, and vegetable recipe preparation goals influences consumption by 4th grade students

Background

Including children in food preparation activities has long been recommended as a method to encourage children's consumption, but has not been evaluated. Goal setting is also a common component of behavior change programs. This study assessed the impact of attaining goals to prepare fruit-juice or vegetable recipes on student fruit and vegetable consumption as part of a 10-week fruit and vegetable intervention for fourth grade students.

Methods

At six of the 10 sessions, students (n = 671) selected a fruit-juice or vegetable recipe to prepare at home before the next session. Students returned parent-signed notes reporting their child's goal attainment. Baseline and post consumption were assessed with up to four days of dietary recalls. Analyses included regression models predicting post consumption from the number of fruit-juice or vegetable recipe preparation goals attained, controlling for baseline consumption.

Results

In general, girls and Hispanic students achieved the most recipe preparation goals. For students with highest baseline fruit-juice consumption, post fruit-juice consumption was higher by about 1.0 serving for those achieving 2 or 3 fruit-juice recipe preparation goals. Post vegetable consumption was highest for students reporting the highest baseline vegetable consumption and who achieved two or three vegetable recipe preparation goals. In general, recipe goal setting was a useful procedure primarily for those with high baseline consumption.

Conclusion

This is one of the first reports demonstrating that home recipe preparation was correlated with dietary change among children.

'Finish your soup': counterproductive effects of pressuring children to eat on intake and affect

The authors examined whether pressuring preschoolers to eat would affect food intake and preferences, using a repeated-measures experimental design. In the experimental condition, children were pressured to eat by a request to finish their food. We collected intake data, heights and weights, child-feeding practices data, and children's comments about the food. Children consumed significantly more food when they were not pressured to eat and they made overwhelmingly fewer negative comments. Children who were pressured to eat at home had lower body mass index percentile scores and were less affected by the pressure in the lab setting than children who were not pressured at home. These data provide experimental evidence supporting previous correlational research indicating that pressure can have negative effects on children's affective responses to and intake of healthy foods.

“Kids Choice” School lunch program increases children's fruit and vegetable acceptance

The "Kids Choice" school lunch program used token reinforcement, food choice, and peer participation to increase children's fruit and vegetable consumption without later drops in food preference sometimes found in past research and often called 'overjustification effects.' Participants included 188 school children (92 boys, 96 girls; mean age = 8.0; 95% Caucasian). After four baseline meals, children were randomly assigned for 12 meals to receive token reinforcement for eating either fruits or vegetables. Observers recorded fruit and vegetable consumption and provided token reinforcement by punching holes into nametags each day children ate their assigned foods, then once a week children could trade these tokens for small prizes. Fruit and vegetable preference ratings were gathered with child interviews during baseline, and during follow-up conditions two weeks and seven months after the token reinforcement program. Consumption increased for fruit and for vegetables and the increases lasted throughout reinforcement conditions. Two weeks after the program, preference ratings showed increases for fruit and for vegetables. Seven months later, fruit and vegetable preferences had returned to baseline levels, suggesting the need for an ongoing school lunch program to keep preferences high, but also showing no signs of "overjustification effects" from the token reinforcement used in the "Kids Choice" school lunch program.