Objectives. The present study aimed to ascertain whether parental reports of their feeding practices are associated with independent observations of these behaviours, and whether the reliability of maternal report depends upon the child’s weight. Methods. A total of 56 mothers and their children ate a lunch to satiety which was videotaped and coded for maternal use of control during feeding. Mothers also completed questionnaires about their feeding practices and children were
weighed and measured. Results. Maternal reports of controlling feeding practices were poorly related to independent observations
of these behaviours in the laboratory. However, there was a significant interaction between child BMI z score and
observed pressure to eat in predicting maternally reported pressure to eat. There was also a significant interaction between
child BMI z score and observed maternal restriction with food in predicting maternally reported restriction. When decomposed,
these interactions suggested that only mothers of relatively underweight children were accurate at reporting their
use of pressure to eat when compared to independent observations. For mothers of relatively overweight children there was
a significant negative relationship between observed and reported restriction over food. Conclusions. Overall there was poor
correspondence between maternal reports and independent observations of the use of controlling feeding practices. Further research is needed to replicate these findings and to ascertain whether parents who are inaccurate at reporting their use of
these feeding practices are unaware that they are using controlling feeding practices or whether they are responding in socially desirable ways to questionnaires assessing their feeding behaviour.
History
School
Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
Published in
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PEDIATRIC OBESITY
Volume
6
Issue
3-4
Pages
306 - 313 (8)
Citation
FARROW, C.V., BLISSETT, J. and HAYCRAFT, E., 2011. Does child weight influence how mothers report their feeding practices? International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, 6 (3-4), pp.306-313.
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