Comparing the use of food and physical activity parenting practices: Parents of children with overweight and obesity versus parents of children with a healthy weight.

Background: Paediatric overweight and obesity are caused by a complex imbalance between energy intake and expenditure. Parents may influence this imbalance through energy balance-related parenting practices. This study aims to compare the use of energy balance-related parenting practices between parents of children with overweight and obesity and children with a healthy weight. Methods: This study compares energy balance-related parenting practices among a group of parents with children with overweight and obesity at the start of a lifestyle intervention (N = 107) and children with a healthy weight (N = 137). Specifically, it compares the feeding practices 'overt control' (open control over eating), 'encouragement', 'instrumental feeding', 'emotional feeding', and 'covert control' (hidden control over eating), as well as the physical activity parenting practice 'promoting physical activity'. Multiple regression analyses are used to calculate associations between child weight groups and parenting practices when corrected for children's characteristics. Results: Parents of children with overweight and obesity reported significantly different scores on control over eating practices than parents of children with a healthy weight, namely a significantly higher score on covert control (B = 0.397, S.E. 0.123, p = 0.001) and a significantly lower score for overt control (B = -0.136, S.E. 0.068, p = 0.046). Conclusion: Covert control is reported more, while overt control is reported less in parents of children with overweight and obesity compared to parents of children with a healthy weight, even after correction for the child's, family, and maternal characteristics. Future longitudinal research and intervention trials are recommended to determine whether and how the use of control over eating practices changes.

Correlates of Dietary Behaviors Among Young Emirati Males Completing Compulsory Military Service.

INTRODUCTION: It is important to understand the correlates of different dietary behaviors in a military context in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to guide intervention development to prevent and treat obesity as it has a significant impact at the country and regional level. This study aimed to assess different dietary behaviors and their association with potential correlates including age, marital status, educational level, smoking status, screen time, dietary knowledge, eating self-efficacy, and general self-efficacy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study used a cross-sectional design and included 153 (M = 25.9 years, SD = ± 3.2) military recruits completing their basic training at a single military camp in the UAE. Dietary behaviors of these recruits were measured using the Arab Teens Lifestyle Study. Other potential correlates included dietary knowledge, general self-efficacy, and eating efficacy. The ethical approval was obtained from the research ethics committee in the UAE university. RESULTS: Daily intake of fruits, vegetables, and breakfast was reported by 14.4%, 25.5%, and 22.9% of the military recruits, respectively. Almost half of the recruits (46.4%) consumed sugar-sweetened drinks more than 3 times a week, 39.2% consumed fast food more than 3 times a week, and 37.3% consumed sweets/chocolates more than 3 times a week. Bivariate regression analyses revealed that eating self-efficacy was positively associated with breakfast and dairy food consumption, although it was inversely associated with sugar, fast-food, and French fries intake. Age was significantly and inversely associated with sugar, fast-food, and energy drink intake. Moreover, nutrition knowledge was significantly and positively correlated with vegetable intake and negatively correlated with energy drink consumption. Multiple regressions showed that lower age and lower eating self-efficacy were found to be the main predictors for sugar-sweetened drinks (adjusted R2 = 0.112) and fast-food intake (adjusted R2 = 0.084). Also, a higher dietary knowledge score was a predictor of vegetable intake (adjusted R2 = 0.093), although age and smoking predict energy drink intake (adjusted R2 = 0.225). CONCLUSIONS: The results show that unhealthy eating patterns are common among new recruits in the UAE military. The study suggests that age, eating self-efficacy, and nutrition knowledge are the main correlates of selected dietary behaviors. Interventions are advised to target these correlates to achieve healthier dietary habits inside the military.

The reliability of the general functioning scale in Norwegian 13-15-year-old adolescents and association with family dinner frequency.

BACKGROUND: Family environment is crucial to the development of health behaviors into adolescence and adulthood. The aims of this study were (1) to explore the reliability of the General Functioning Scale (GFS) among Norwegian 13-15-year-olds, and (2) to assess whether family functioning reported by adolescents was associated with family dinner frequency. METHODS: In total 440 secondary-school students were invited to participate in this cross-sectional web-based questionnaire survey, with 54 participating in the test-retest study. Test-retest and internal consistency were assessed for the 12-item GFS-scale. Associations between family functioning and family dinner frequency were tested using multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: The GFS had high internal consistency (corrected item-total correlations ranging from 0.40 to 0.65, Cronbach's α = 0.85), and excellent test-retest reliability (intra-class correlation coefficient = 0.83). In the logistic regression model, a higher score on GFS (poorer family functioning) was associated with a reduced likelihood of having dinner together on a daily basis (i.e., 6-7 times per week, OR = 0.36, CI = 0.20-0-64) after adjusting for age, gender, ethnicity, living situation and parental education level. CONCLUSIONS: The GFS had high reliability. As poorer family functioning was associated with less frequent family dinners, the family environment may be an important (contextual) target to influence adolescent health behaviors. It would be of interest to further explore the role of family functioning in relation to adolescents' dietary habits, besides shared family meals, and to reveal the mechanisms underlying such relationships.

Dietary, physical activity, and weight management interventions among active-duty military personnel: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Research has been conducted to assess the effectiveness of weight management, dietary and physical activity interventions in military settings. However, a recent and comprehensive overview is lacking. The aim of this systematic review is to examine the evidence and describe key components of effective interventions in terms of improving body composition, dietary behaviors, and physical activity among active-duty military personnel. METHODS: PubMed, PsycInfo, and CINAHL were searched on the 17th of November 2017 to identify interventions that promoted diet and/or physical activity among active-duty military personnel. Studies were included if they assessed outcomes related to anthropometric measurements, dietary behaviors, or fitness/physical activity levels. There were no restrictions regarding publication date, follow-up duration, and sex. After screening, a total of 136 studies were eligible. Of these studies, 38 included an educational and/or behavioral change component, and 98 had only physical or fitness training as part of basic military training. Only studies that included an educational and/or behavioral change component were assessed for quality using the Effective Public Health Practice Project tool and included in the qualitative synthesis of the results. RESULTS: Based on consistent evidence from studies that were rated as moderate or strong, there is good evidence that military weight management interventions are effective in improving body composition for durations of up to 12 months. Effective interventions are more likely to be high intensity (have a greater number of sessions), are more often delivered by specialists, and use theoretical base/behavioral change techniques and a standardized guideline. Dietary interventions can potentially reduce total fat and saturated fat intake. Dietary interventions that target the kitchen staff and/or increase the availability of healthy food are more likely to be effective in the short term. The results regarding military physical fitness interventions were inconclusive. CONCLUSION: Despite limitations such as the diversity and heterogeneity of the included interventions, outcome measurements, and follow-up duration, this systematic review found good evidence that weight management interventions are effective, especially in terms of weight loss. More studies are needed to acquire solid evidence for effectiveness for durations longer than 12 months and to identify key components of the effective dietary and physical activity educational and/or behavioral change interventions, especially in countries outside Europe and the US.

How to bridge the intention-behavior gap in food parenting: Automatic constructs and underlying techniques.

Although parents often report positive intentions to promote and create a healthy food environment for their children (e.g., setting limits to snacks offered), they also experience difficulties in translating these intentions into actual behaviors. In this position paper, we argue that automatic processes explain an important part of the gap between parents' intentions and their actual food parenting behaviors. We provide a conceptual framework in which we hypothesize that automatic effects on food parenting occur through two key interrelated constructs: habits (key outcome construct) and volitional regulation behaviors (key mediating construct). Moreover, we discuss potentially important impulse-focused techniques that may directly change habits (e.g., nudging; inhibitory control training) or indirectly through volitional regulation behaviors (e.g., implementation intentions; mental contrasting). We make use of the literature on the role of intention-behavior discordance in general health behaviors and discuss implications for food parenting practices. Our framework provides a dual process view towards food parenting and may help to explain when and why parents are likely to engage in (un)healthy food parenting behaviors. In addition, this framework may hopefully stimulate research on (combinations of old and) new techniques to promote good food parenting behaviors.

Bidirectional associations between activity-related parenting practices, and child physical activity, sedentary screen-based behavior and body mass index: a longitudinal analysis.

BACKGROUND: It has been generally assumed that activity-related parenting practices influence children's activity behavior and weight status. However, vice versa parents may also change their parenting behaviors in response to their perceptions of their child's activity behavior and weight status. This study examined the bidirectional relationships between activity-related parenting practices, and physical activity, sedentary screen-based behavior, and body mass index (BMI) between children's age of 5 and 7 years. METHODS: Three scales of the Activity-related Parenting Questionnaire (i.e. 'restriction of sedentary behavior', 'stimulation of physical activity', and 'monitoring of physical activity') were completed by 1694 parents of the Dutch KOALA Birth Cohort Study at the child's age of around 5 and again around age 7. Physical activity, sedentary screen-based behavior and BMI were measured at both ages as well. Linear regression models were used to estimate the bidirectional associations between each parenting practice and the child's physical activity levels, sedentary screen-based behavior and BMI z-scores. RESULTS: Several parenting practices at age 5 predicted child physical activity, sedentary screen-based behavior, and BMI z-scores at age 7. Restriction of sedentary behavior positively predicted child BMI and sedentary screen-based behavior, whereas this practice negatively predicted child physical activity. In addition, stimulation of physical activity at age 5 was significantly associated with higher levels of child physical activity at age 7. The following child factors at age 5 predicted parenting practices at age 7: Child physical activity positively predicted parental stimulation of physical activity and monitoring activities. Sedentary screen-based behavior was associated with lower parental stimulation to be active. CONCLUSIONS: Findings generally revealed that parents and children mutually influence each other's behavior. A reinforcing feedback loop was present between parental stimulation of physical activity and child physical activity. Bidirectional parent-child interaction should be considered in future research in order to properly inform parenting-related intervention programs aimed at preventing or treating childhood overweight or obesity. System dynamic methods to explore the existence of reinforcing or balancing loops are needed in this regard.

Parenting styles, feeding styles and food-related parenting practices in relation to toddlers' eating styles: A cluster-analytic approach.

INTRODUCTION: Toddlers' eating behaviors are influenced by the way parents interact with their children. The objective of this study was to explore how five major constructs of general parenting behavior cluster in parents of toddlers. These parenting clusters were further explored to see how they differed in the use of feeding strategies (i.e. feeding styles and food parenting practices) and by reported child eating styles. METHODS: An online survey with 1005 mothers/caregivers (legal guardians) with at least one child between 12 and 36 months old was conducted in the United States in 2012, assessing general parenting behavior, feeding style, food parenting practices and the child eating styles. RESULTS: A three cluster solution of parenting style was found and clusters were labelled as overprotective/supervising, authoritarian, and authoritative. The clusters differed in terms of general parenting behaviors. Both overprotective and authoritative clusters showed high scores on structure, behavioral control, and nurturance. The overprotective cluster scored high on overprotection. The 'authoritarian' cluster showed lowest levels of nurturance, structure and behavioral control. Overprotective and authoritative parents showed very similar patterns in the use of food parenting practices, e.g. monitoring food intake, modeling, and promoting healthy food intake and availability at home. Overprotective parents also reported higher use of pressure to eat and involvement. Authoritarian parents reported high use of giving the child control over their food behaviors, emotion regulation, using food as a reward, and controlling food intake for weight control. Children's eating styles did not largely vary by parenting cluster. CONCLUSION: This study showed that a relatively new parenting style of overprotection is relevant for children's eating behaviors. Overprotective parents reported food parenting practices that are known to be beneficial for children's food intake, such as modelling healthy food intake, as well as more unfavorable practices such as pressure. Longitudinal data on parenting practices and their relation to healthy eating in children is needed to inform communication and interventions for parents, reinforcing key feeding strategies which have positive effects on child eating behaviors and addressing parenting styles that have unintended negative effects.

Can it be harmful for parents to talk to their child about their weight? A meta-analysis.

Many parents express concern that raising the issue of weight risks harming their child's physical self-perceptions and wellbeing. Such concerns can deter families from engaging with weight management services. This systematic review aimed to investigate the evidence behind these concerns by analysing the association between parent-child weight-talk and child wellbeing. A systematic search of eight databases identified four intervention studies and 38 associative studies. Meta-analysis was only possible for the associative studies; to facilitate more meaningful comparisons, weight-talk was categorized into four communication types and effect size estimates for the association between these and wellbeing indicators were calculated through a random effects model. Encouraging children to lose weight and criticizing weight were associated with poorer physical self-perceptions and greater dieting and dysfunctional eating (effect sizes: 0.20 to 0.47). Conversely, parental encouragement of healthy lifestyles without explicit reference to weight was associated with better wellbeing, but this was only measured in two studies. Of the four intervention studies, only one isolated the effects of parents' communication on wellbeing outcomes, reporting a positive effect. There was no effect of age on the strength of associations, but dysfunctional eating was more strongly associated with parent communication for girls than boys. The findings indicate that some forms of parent-child weight-talk are associated with poor wellbeing, but suggest that this is not inevitable. Encouraging healthy behaviours without reference to weight-control, and positive parental involvement in acknowledging and addressing weight-concern may avoid such outcomes. More longitudinal research is needed to analyse the direction of these effects.

Associations between parental impulsivity and child body mass index.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the association between parental impulsivity and (12-15 year old) child body mass index (BMI). METHODS: In total, 300 parents completed a survey regarding their own impulsivity level (Barratt impulsiveness scale) and that of their child (impulsivity scale of the temperament in middle childhood questionnaire), and supplied details of their own and their child's height and weight. Partial correlations were computed to assess relationships between both parental and child impulsiveness scores and child BMI z-scores, independent of parental BMI. Mediation analyses were performed to assess the potential mediating role of child impulsivity on the relationship between parental impulsivity and child BMI z-score. RESULTS: For daughters, parental impulsivity was significantly correlated with BMI z-score. Parent-reported child impulsivity was not related to child BMI z-score, and no evidence was found for a mediating effect of parent-reported child impulsivity on the relationship between parental impulsivity and child BMI z-score. CONCLUSION: There is a stronger association between parental impulsivity and child BMI z-score than between child impulsivity and child BMI z-score. The relationship between parental impulsivity and-child BMI z-score could possibly be explained by parenting styles and practices. The potentially mediating role of parenting should be taken into account in future studies investigating the role of personality in children becoming overweight or obese.

Perceived rules and accessibility: measurement and mediating role in the association between parental education and vegetable and soft drink intake.

BACKGROUND: The existence of socioeconomic differences in dietary behaviors is well documented. However, studies exploring the mechanisms behind these differences among adolescents using comprehensive and reliable measures of mediators are lacking. The aims of this study were (a) to assess the psychometric properties of new scales assessing the perceived rules and accessibility related to the consumption of vegetables and soft drinks and (b) to explore their mediating role in the association between parental education and the corresponding dietary behaviors. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey including 440 adolescents from three counties in Norway (mean age 14.3 years (SD = 0.6)) was conducted using a web-based questionnaire. Principal component analysis, test-retest and internal reliability analysis were conducted. The mediating role of perceived accessibility and perceived rules in the association between parental education and the dietary behaviors was explored using linear regression analyses. RESULTS: Factor analyses confirmed two separate subscales, named "accessibility" and "rules", both for vegetables and soft drinks (factor loadings >0.60). The scales had good internal consistency reliability (0.70-0.87). The test-retest reliability of the scales was moderate to good (0.44-0.62). Parental education was inversely related to the consumption of soft drinks and positively related to the consumption of vegetables. Perceived accessibility and perceived rules related to soft drink consumption were found to mediate the association between parental education and soft drink consumption (47.5 and 8.5 % of total effect mediated). Accessibility of vegetables was found to mediate the association between parental education and the consumption of vegetables (51 % of total effect mediated). CONCLUSION: The new scales developed in this study are comprehensive and have adequate validity and reliability; they are therefore considered appropriate for use among 13-15 year-olds. Parents, in particular those with a low educational background, should be encouraged to increase the accessibility of vegetables and to decrease the accessibility of soft drinks, in particular during dinner. Enforcing parental rules limiting soft drink intake in families with low parental education also appears relevant.

Adolescent impulsivity and soft drink consumption: The role of parental regulation.

The present study aimed to explore the process in which impulsivity might influence soft drink consumption in adolescents, addressing potential mediating effects of perceived parental regulation regarding unhealthy eating. A cross-sectional survey was performed among 440 13-15-year-olds in Eastern Norway. The survey questionnaire included measures of impulsivity, six types of maternal and paternal regulation (as perceived by the adolescents), and consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB). Parallel multiple-mediator analyses were performed to reveal potential mediating effects of perceived parental regulatory behaviors on the association between adolescent impulsivity and SSB consumption. Separate models were run for maternal and paternal regulation. Results from our model analyses (both maternal and paternal models) indicated that all the six measured parental regulatory behaviors jointly acted as mediators on the association between adolescent impulsivity and SSB consumption. However, only perceived maternal and paternal legitimacy of regulation showed a unique contribution to the mediated effect. This finding suggests that adolescents' perception of parental legitimate authority is of particular importance in explaining the relationship between impulsivity and unhealthy eating behaviors in adolescents. Future nutrition interventions targeting adolescents and their parents should take personal factors such as adolescents' level of impulsivity into account. Ultimately; what may be an appropriate approach to impulsive individuals and their parents may diverge from what may be an appropriate approach to less impulsive individuals and their parents.

Aerobic and strength exercises for youngsters aged 12 to 15: what do parents think?

BACKGROUND: Although strength exercises evidently have both physiological and psychological health benefits across all ages, they are erroneously considered to adversely affect health status in youngsters. The aim of this study was to examine parental attitudes towards their child's physical activity in general, as well as aerobic and strength exercises in particular. METHODS: In total, 314 parents from an online panel representative of the Dutch population completed an online survey about their own physical activity and that of their child (12-15 years old). The study also explored reasons for non-participation, and attitudes about the parents' own and their child's physical activity level. RESULTS: Parents consistently reported a positive attitude towards aerobic exercises, but a less positive attitude regarding strength exercises. Parents were more likely to indicate that their child was not allowed to participate in strength exercises (29.6 %) than aerobic exercises (4.0 %). They thought that strength exercises could interfere with optimal physical development. CONCLUSIONS: This study consistently shows that parents have a positive attitude towards aerobic exercises, but a less positive attitude regarding strength exercises. We suggest testing interventions to increase parental understanding of the advantages of and possibilities for (e.g., facilities) strength training on their child's health.

Correlates of dietary behavior in adults: an umbrella review.

CONTEXT: Multiple studies have been conducted on correlates of dietary behavior in adults, but a clear overview is currently lacking. OBJECTIVE: An umbrella review, or review-of-reviews, was conducted to summarize and synthesize the scientific evidence on correlates and determinants of dietary behavior in adults. DATA SOURCES: Eligible systematic reviews were identified in four databases: PubMed, PsycINFO, The Cochrane Library, and Web of Science. Only reviews published between January 1990 and May 2014 were included. STUDY SELECTION: Systematic reviews of observable food and dietary behavior that describe potential behavioral determinants of dietary behavior in adults were included. After independent selection of potentially relevant reviews by two authors, a total of 14 reviews were considered eligible. DATA EXTRACTION: For data extraction, the importance of determinants, the strength of the evidence, and the methodological quality of the eligible reviews were evaluated. Multiple observers conducted the data extraction independently. DATA SYNTHESIS: Social-cognitive determinants and environmental determinants (mainly the social-cultural environment) were included most often in the available reviews. Sedentary behavior and habit strength were consistently identified as important correlates of dietary behavior. Other correlates and potential determinants of dietary behavior, such as motivational regulation, shift work, and the political environment, have been studied in relatively few studies, but results are promising. CONCLUSIONS: The multitude of studies conducted on correlates of dietary behavior provides mixed, but sometimes quite convincing, evidence. However, because of the generally weak research design of the studies covered in the available reviews, the evidence for true determinants is suggestive, at best.

Longitudinal association of neighborhood variables with Body Mass Index in Dutch school-age children: The KOALA Birth Cohort Study.

Changes in the neighborhood environment may explain part of the rapid increase in childhood overweight and obesity during the last decades. To date few theory-driven rather than data-driven studies have explored longitudinal associations between multiple neighborhood characteristics and child body weight development. We aimed to assess the relationship between physical, social and perceived safety related characteristics of the neighborhood and Body Mass Index (BMI) development in children during early school age, using a longitudinal design. We included an examination of moderating and confounding factors based on a conceptual model adapted from the EnRG framework (Environmental Research framework for weight Gain prevention) and empirical research. Analyses included 1887 children from the KOALA Birth Cohort Study followed from baseline age 4-5 years until 8-9 years. For children age 4-5 years, parents completed a questionnaire measuring characteristics of the neighborhood. Reliability and factor analyses were used to identify constructs for neighborhood characteristics. Linear regression analysis was performed to assess the relationship between neighborhood constructs and BMI z-scores cross-sectionally at age 4-5 years and longitudinally using Generalized Estimating Equations with BMI z-scores over 5 repeated measurements until age 8-9 years. Fourteen constructs were identified and grouped in three domains including perceived physical, social, or safety related characteristics of the neighborhood. Cross-sectionally, a lower BMI z-score was associated with higher perceived physical attractiveness of the neighborhood environment (standardized regression coefficient (ß) -0.078, 95% CI -0.123 to -0.034) and a higher level of social capital (ß -0.142, -0.264 to -0.019). Longitudinally, similar associations were observed with potentially even stronger regression coefficients. This study suggests that BMI in children is mainly related to the modifiable physical and social environment of the conceptual model and not related to safety as perceived by parents.

Determinants of dietary behavior among youth: an umbrella review.

BACKGROUND: The literature on determinants of dietary behavior among youth is extensive and unwieldy. We conducted an umbrella review or review-of-reviews to present a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge. METHODS: Therefore, we included systematic reviews identified in four databases (i.e. PubMed, PsycINFO, The Cochrane Library and Web of Science) that summarized determinants of observable child and adolescent dietary behaviors. Data extraction included a judgment of the importance of determinants, strength of evidence and evaluation of the methodological quality of the eligible reviews. RESULTS: In total, 17 reviews were considered eligible. Whereas social-cognitive determinants were addressed most intensively towards the end of the 20th century, environmental determinants (particularly social and physical environmental) have been studied most extensively during the past decade, thereby representing a paradigm shift. With regard to environmental determinants, mixed findings were reported. Sedentary behavior and intention were found to be significant determinants of a wide range of dietary behaviors in most reviews with limited suggestive evidence due to the cross-sectional study designs. Other potential determinants such as automaticity, self-regulation and subjective norm have been studied in relatively few studies, but results are promising. CONCLUSION: The multitude of studies conducted on potential determinants of dietary behavior provides quite convincing evidence of the importance of several determinants (i.e. quite some variables were significantly related to dietary behavior). However, because of the often used weak research designs in the studies covered in the available reviews, the evidence for true determinants is suggestive at best.

How parental dietary behavior and food parenting practices affect children's dietary behavior. Interacting sources of influence?

Until now, the literatures on the effects of food parenting practices and parents' own dietary behavior on children's dietary behavior have largely been independent from one another. Integrating findings across these areas could provide insight on simultaneous and interacting influences on children's food intake. In this narrative review, we provide a conceptual model that bridges the gap between both literatures and consists of three main hypotheses. First, parental dietary behavior and food parenting practices are important interactive sources of influence on children's dietary behavior and Body Mass Index (BMI). Second, parental influences are importantly mediated by changes in the child's home food environment. Third, parenting context (i.e., parenting styles and differential parental treatment) moderates effects of food parenting practices, whereas child characteristics (i.e., temperament and appetitive traits) mainly moderate effects of the home food environment. Future studies testing (parts of) this conceptual model are needed to inform effective parent-child overweight preventive interventions.

Associations between general parenting, restrictive snacking rules, and adolescent's snack intake. The roles of fathers and mothers and interparental congruence.

INTRODUCTION: Little research has been done on the role of fathers and parenting congruence between mothers and fathers. This study aimed to clarify the roles of general parenting and restrictive snacking rules set by fathers and mothers, and to explore parenting congruence in explaining adolescents' snack intake. METHODS: Adolescents aged 11 to 15 completed a questionnaire assessing their perception of general parenting constructs (i.e. nurturance, structure, behavioral control, coercive control, and overprotection), restrictive snacking rules set by their fathers and mothers, and their own energy-dense snack intakes between meals. RESULTS: Scores for mothers were significantly higher on all constructs than for fathers, except for coercive control. Generally, higher scores on general parenting constructs were associated with higher scores on restrictive snacking rules (most of the associations being significant). Most general parenting constructs were unrelated to the respondents' number of snacks consumed. The use of restrictive snacking rules by both fathers and mothers was significantly and negatively related to respondents' snack intake. Moderation analyses indicated that high levels of incongruence between parents attenuated the favorable impact of fathers' rules and nurturance on their children's snacking, but interactions of congruence with three other paternal scales and all maternal scales were absent. DISCUSSION: Our findings indicate that both paternal and maternal general parenting and restrictive snacking rules play important roles in adolescents' snacking, and that high parental incongruence regarding restrictive snacking rules and nurturance could be undesirable.

Development of family and dietary habits questionnaires: the assessment of family processes, dietary habits and adolescents' impulsiveness in Norwegian adolescents and their parents.

BACKGROUND: There is a need for valid and comprehensive measures of parental influence on children's energy balance-related behaviours (EBRB). Such measures should be based on a theoretical framework, acknowledging the dynamic and complex nature of interactions occurring within a family. The aim of the Family & Dietary habits (F&D) project was to develop a conceptual framework identifying important and changeable family processes influencing dietary behaviours of 13-15 year olds. A second aim was to develop valid and reliable questionnaires for adolescents and their parents (both mothers and fathers) measuring these processes. METHODS: A stepwise approach was used; (1) preparation of scope and structure, (2) development of the F&D questionnaires, (3) the conducting of pilot studies and (4) the conducting of validation studies (assessing internal reliability, test-retest reliability and confirmatory factor analysis) using data from a cross-sectional study. RESULTS: The conceptual framework includes psychosocial concepts such as family functioning, cohesion, conflicts, communication, work-family stress, parental practices and parental style. The physical characteristics of the home environment include accessibility and availability of different food items, while family meals are the sociocultural setting included. Individual characteristics measured are dietary intake (vegetables and sugar-sweetened beverages) and adolescents' impulsivity. The F&D questionnaires developed were tested in a test-retest (54 adolescents and 44 of their parents) and in a cross-sectional survey including 440 adolescents (13-15 year olds), 242 mothers and 155 fathers. The samples appear to be relatively representative for Norwegian adolescents and parents. For adolescents, mothers and fathers, the test-retest reliability of the dietary intake, frequencies of (family) meals, work-family stress and communication variables was satisfactory (ICC: 0.53-0.99). Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-Brief (BIS-Brief) was included, assessing adolescent's impulsivity. The internal reliability (Cronbach's alphas: 0.77/0.82) and test-retest reliability values (ICC: 0.74/0.77) of BIS-Brief were good. CONCLUSIONS: The conceptual framework developed may be a useful tool in guiding measurement and assessment of the home food environment and family processes related to adolescents' dietary habits, in particular and for EBRBs more generally. The results support the use of the F&D questionnaires as psychometrically sound tools to assess family characteristics and adolescent's impulsivity.

Food parenting practices and child dietary behavior. Prospective relations and the moderating role of general parenting.

Research on parenting practices has focused on individual behaviors while largely failing to consider the context of their use, i.e., general parenting. We examined the extent to which food parenting practices predict children's dietary behavior (classified as unhealthy: snacking, sugar-sweetened beverage; and healthy: water and fruit intake). Furthermore, we tested the moderating role of general parenting on this relationship. Within the KOALA Birth Cohort Study, in the Netherlands, questionnaire data were collected at 6 and 8 years (N = 1654). Correlations were computed to assess the association between food parenting practices and general parenting (i.e., nurturance, behavioral control, structure, coercive control, and overprotection). Linear regression models were fitted to assess whether food parenting practices predict dietary behavior. Instrumental and emotional feeding, and pressure to eat were found to have associations with undesirable child dietary behavior (increased unhealthy intake/decreased healthy intake), whereas associations were in the desirable direction for covert control, encouragement and restriction. Moderation analyses were performed by evaluating interactions with general parenting. The associations of encouragement and covert control with desirable child dietary behaviors were found to be stronger for children who were reared in a positive parenting context. Future research should assess the influence of contextual parenting factors moderating the relationships between food parenting and child dietary behavior as the basis for the development of more effective family-based interventions.