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Marshall-Beaucoup, Sophie

University of British Columbia

Problem: Adolescence is a period during which dietary quality often decreases and rates of unhealthy dietary behaviours increase. Food parenting practices (FPP) and adolescents’ cognitive factors influence the development of these behaviours, but few studies have investigated these influences together despite evidence suggesting mediation by cognitive factors. Objective: To examine whether the relationship between FPP and adolescents’ unhealthy dietary behaviours (i.e., weight-loss dieting, fad dieting, meal-skipping and low dietary quality) is mediated by cognitive factors (motivation, food preferences, self-esteem, and weight concerns) in a sample of Grade 7 adolescents. Methods: Data from 670 grade 7 adolescents and their parents were collected for the HABITs study (P.I. Dr. LC Mâsse) in Vancouver, British Columbia between 2019 and 2021. Adolescents completed questionnaires about their dietary behaviours and cognition, and three 24-hour dietary recalls, and parents completed questionnaires about their FPP. Latent class analysis was used to extract patterns of FPP use. Linear and logistic regressions were used to assess the association between FPP and dietary behaviours, and path analyses to assess mediation by cognitive factors. Results: Four FPP typologies were extracted: 1) high-engagement (16.7%), 2) controlling (8.3%), 3) structure and autonomy promoting (36.8%), and 4) low-engagement (38.2%). Children whose parents used controlling FPP were more likely to report weight-loss dieting compared to children whose parents used structured and autonomy promoting practices (β=0.73). Parents with low engagement in FPP had children with lower diet quality, on average, compared to other groups (β=-0.19). Coercive feeding and emotional feeding were associated with more weight-loss dieting (β=0.35), and more meal-skipping (β=0.15) and lower diet quality (β=-0.15). Rules and limits were associated with less fad dieting (β=-0.37) and meal-skipping (β=-0.20), and availability and negotiation with higher diet quality (β=0.16 and β=0.15, respectively). Food preferences mediated the association between low-engagement parenting and diet quality. Conclusions: Parents’ combined use of FPP seem to correlate with adolescents’ unhealthy dietary behaviours. Parents should remain a target for interventions, and interventionists should consider patterns of FPP use and engagement in FPP beyond individual FPP. Future research is needed to explore these associations longitudinally and to further explore mediation by cognitive factors.

Text

2025-01-13

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/90109

Population and Public Health

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/