Indulgent caregivers’ feeding style moderated the association between food responsiveness and BMI z-score of preschool children

Childhood obesity is a global epidemic and a public health concern that requires urgent attention. This is because childhood obesity has been shown to be a strong predictor of obesity in adulthood and health risks associated with obesity are very many and could also lead to mortality in both children and adults. Among the many factors that influence obesity, parental feeding styles and child eating behaviors have been confirmed by many researchers to have a strong link with weight status in children. This study seeks to understand the moderation effect of parental feeding styles, if any, on the relationship between child eating behavior and child weight status. Chile is an important place to study this phenomenon because of the disproportionate number of children that are overweight or obese compared with other nations of the world. The objective of this study was to test the moderating role of indulgent, uninvolved and authoritarian feeding styles in the association between BMI z scores and eating behaviors of preschool children. Participants were 81 caregiver-preschooler dyads from low-income neighborhoods in Santiago, Chile. Moderated multiple linear regression models were used to test the moderating effect of caregiver feeding style in the association between a child’s eating behavior and BMI z-scores. Results showed that the indulgent caregiver’s feeding style moderated the association between food responsiveness and the child BMI z-score of preschool children. Findings from this study emphasize the complex nature of weight outcomes and show that indulgent feeding style can be a risk factor for unhealthy weight outcomes in preschoolers with food responsive eating behavior. Childhood obesity prevention programs in Chile may be more effective if such programs are planned with the consideration that indulgent feeding styles play a role in the relationship between a child’s BMI z-score and food responsiveness.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Community Health

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2021

Author dc:creator

• Oke, Yosi

Contributors dc:contributor

• Schwingel, Andiara

• Childhood obesity, Child BMI-z score, Eating behaviors, parental feeding style

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2020 Yosi Oke

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/109600

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/109600