Research ReportRevisiting a neglected construct: parenting styles in a child-feeding context
Introduction
By 3 years of age, children's eating is no longer deprivation driven, but influenced by an increased response to parental cues (Klesges et al., 1991, Koivisto et al., 1994). Research regarding the influence of parental feeding on young children's eating has primarily targeted European-Americans (Birch et al., 2001, Wardle et al., 2002). Further, much of this work has focused on particular feeding behaviors, neglecting the underlying dimensions of those behaviors which form stable, trait-like propensities (Baughcum et al., 2001, Birch et al., 2001). The role of parental feeding on the eating behavior of low-income minority children may be indicative of specific cultural influences (Cousins et al., 1993, Iannotti et al., 1994); however, little research has focused on the systematic measurement of general patterns of feeding among ethnically diverse populations, despite the higher incidence of pediatric obesity among these groups (Ogden, Flegal, Carroll, & Johnson, 2002).
Researchers of parent–child relations have made an important distinction between parental behaviors or directives and the underlying dimensions, which produce stable patterns of behavior (Darling & Steinberg, 1993). Patterns of parental behavior (i.e. parenting styles) have been conceptualized in terms of the amount and quality of two underlying dimensions—demandingness and responsiveness. The most seminal work in the area of parenting has been developed by Baumrind, 1971, Baumrind, 1989 and extended by Maccoby and Martin (1983). In the domain of general parenting, demandingness refers to the extent to which parents show control, maturity demands, and supervision in their parenting; responsiveness refers to the extent to which parents show affective warmth, acceptance, and involvement. Based on these two dimensions, a four-fold classification of parenting style has been described: (1) the authoritative style (high demandingness/high responsiveness) characterized by parental involvement, nurturance, reasoning, and structure; (2) the authoritarian style (high demandingness/low responsiveness) characterized by restrictive, punitive, rejecting, and power-assertive behaviors; (3) the indulgent style (low demandingness/high responsiveness) characterized by warmth and acceptance in conjunction with a lack of monitoring of the child's behavior; and (4) the uninvolved style (low demandingness/low responsiveness) characterized by little control and involvement with the child. Numerous studies, investigating a wide range of child and parental behaviors, have demonstrated that authoritative parenting is associated with the most positive child outcomes (see Darling and Steinberg, 1993, Maccoby and Martin, 1983 for reviews).
Researchers measuring parental feeding behaviors (Baughcum et al., 2001, Birch et al., 2001, Wardle et al., 2002) have focused almost entirely on feeding ‘practices’ and inferred feeding ‘styles’ from these practices. In other studies, feeding practices have been categorized into authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive categories based on face validity (Cullen et al., 2001, Nicklas et al., 2001). Subsequently, little research has explicitly focused on and systematically evaluated feeding ‘styles’ by teasing apart the processes that underlie the influence of style on children's eating. Similar to parenting styles, feeding styles can be determined by a combination of the two underlying dimensions of demandingness and responsiveness. In the feeding domain, demandingness refers to how much the parent encourages eating and responsiveness refers to how the parents encourage eating, that is, in a responsive or nonresponsive way.
Most research on feeding practices has focused on various types of parental control such as instructions (Heptinstall et al., 1987), rewards (Casey & Rozin, 1989) and punishments, coercion, and restriction (Johnson & Birch, 1993). Parents' attempts to control the food intake of children through authoritarian practices have been shown to lessen children's responsiveness to energy density and meal size (Birch et al., 1987). Moreover, children who were instructed to ‘clean their plates’ were less responsive to energy–density cues than children who were taught to focus on internal cues of hunger and fullness (Birch et al., 1987, Johnson and Birch, 1993). Likewise, parents who restricted their children's access to foods high in fat and sugar increased the child's focus and selection of those foods (Fisher & Birch, 1999). Further, other research has shown that authoritarian feeding behaviors were associated with children's weight status (Klesges et al., 1991) and that relationships exist between body mass index, restrictive practices, and monitoring, as well as between body mass index, weight concern, and pressure to eat (Birch and Fisher, 2000, Carper et al., 2000).
Research describing authoritative and permissive feeding practices has been limited. Authoritative practices studied included using discussion, negotiations, and reasoning (Iannotti et al., 1994), providing rationales (Cousins et al., 1993, Heptinstall et al., 1987), and praising the child (Stanek, Abbott, & Cramer, 1990). Other studies have suggested that fostering the child's interest in food increased food acceptance (Birch, 1987, Close and Sabry, 1978, Pliner, 1982, Stark et al., 1986). A few studies have described practices that appear to be permissive such as lack of parental control over the child's eating and letting the child eat whatever he/she wants (Anliker et al., 1992, Eppright et al., 1970).
Feeding practices are thought to be influenced by culture (Birch & Fisher, 1995). Despite this assertion and the fact that the prevalence of childhood obesity is disproportionately high among minority children (Ogden et al., 2002), most research on feeding practices has ignored the influence of culture. Only a few studies have examined parental control in feeding interactions among various ethnic groups (Hays et al., 2001, Kaiser et al., 1999, Olvera-Ezzell et al., 1990). These studies state that their approach to parental feeding may be ethnically based; however, it is unclear whether the constructs used in these studies are culturally sensitive to minority populations. Further, feeding practices identified and measured in predominantly white, middle class populations may function differently in ethnically diverse populations.
The purpose of this study was to develop a measure to identify parental styles of feeding similar to Maccoby and Martin's (1983) typology of general parenting, specifically in parents of low-income minority children. Items for the Caregiver's Feeding Styles Questionnaire (CFSQ) were developed to distinguish patterns of feeding along two dimensions (i.e. parental demandingness and responsiveness regarding their child's eating). Differences on the two dimensions result in four styles of feeding similar to Maccoby and Martin's (1983) elaboration of authoritarian, authoritative, indulgent, and uninvolved parenting styles. Convergent validity was evaluated by relating these feeding styles to independent measures of general parenting and authoritarian feeding. Further, the association between feeding styles and children's body mass index were investigated.
Section snippets
Participants
Participants were part of a larger study to investigate eating practices of preschool children in minority homes and day care centers. The study focused specifically on African-American (AA) and Hispanic (H) parents whose children were enrolled in Head Start facilities located in Houston, Texas.
The participants included 231 primary caregivers (101 AA and 130 H). The primary caregiver was defined as the person who takes care of the targeted Head Start preschooler most of the time during the week
Response distributions
Mean scores ranged from 1.28 to 4.42 with a minimum possible score of one and a maximum score of five. All items with a mean score of less than 2.0 were deleted from the set resulting in 24 items that were well distributed. These items with a mean score of less than 2.0 were deleted because the vast majority of parents indicated that they ‘never’ engaged in these behaviors. Therefore, not only did these items have limited variance, but they also did not describe relevant feeding behaviors in
Discussion
The CFSQ was developed to assess feeding styles among African-Americans and Hispanics along two dimensions, specifically demandingness and responsiveness. Differences on the two dimensions resulted in authoritarian, authoritative, indulgent, and uninvolved feeding styles similar to Maccoby and Martin's (1983) parenting styles. Initial scale development included videotaping mealtimes, back translations, and cognitive interviewing to ensure cultural sensitivity. The CFSQ has good test-retest
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Sandra Lopez and Janet Bonner, who were instrumental in the development of the questionnaire and for their help in data collection, and Pamelia Harris for help in preparing the manuscript. We also extend a special thanks to the children and parents of Neighborhood Centers, Inc., without whom this work could not be accomplished. This research was supported by funds from the United States Department of Agriculture, Environmental Influences on Children's Food Consumption
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