Maternal and paternal controlling feeding practices with male and female children

This study aimed to compare maternal and paternal feeding practices with male and female children and examine the influence of the gender of both the parent and child on the relationship between parental unhealthy eating attitudes and controlling feeding practices. One hundred and eighty-eight parti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Appetite 2006-09, Vol.47 (2), p.212-219
Main Authors: Blissett, Jacqueline, Meyer, Caroline, Haycraft, Emma
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
appetite
Attitude
Biological and medical sciences
body image
Body Mass Index
boys
Child
Child, Preschool
Control
Eating - psychology
eating disorders
eating habits
Fathers
Fathers - psychology
Feeding
Feeding Behavior - psychology
Feeding. Feeding behavior
Female
food choices
food intake
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gender
girls
Humans
Infant
Male
Medical sciences
Metabolic diseases
Monitoring
mothers
Mothers - psychology
Nuclear Family - psychology
Parent-Child Relations
parent-child relationships
Pressure to eat
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Restriction
satiety
Sex Factors
Statistics, Nonparametric
Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems
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Summary:This study aimed to compare maternal and paternal feeding practices with male and female children and examine the influence of the gender of both the parent and child on the relationship between parental unhealthy eating attitudes and controlling feeding practices. One hundred and eighty-eight participants (94 co-habiting mother–father dyads, mean age 36.4 years, SD=4.9), who were the parents of 46 male and 48 female children (mean age 37.7 months, SD=12.7) completed measures of unhealthy eating attitudes and feeding practices. Mothers and fathers differed significantly in their reports of unhealthy eating attitudes but not in their restrictive or pressurising feeding practices. Mothers reported greater perceived feeding responsibility and greater monitoring of their children's food intake than fathers. Bulimia scores were correlated with controlling feeding practices in mothers of girls but not boys. Fathers’ body dissatisfaction was correlated with monitoring of sons’ but not daughters’ food intake. These findings suggest that parental extrapolation of weight concerns may be more likely to occur within mother–daughter and father–son relationships.
ISSN:0195-6663
1095-8304
DOI:10.1016/j.appet.2006.04.002