A study conducted right here in the Twin Cities uncovered that adolescents are more likely to face food restrictions or pressure to eat depending on the weight of their parents.
To better understand how a parent’s weight impacted child eating patterns, Dr. Jerica Berge of the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis decided to look at families in the Twin Cities community. Researchers analyzed data from the Eating and Activity in Teens 2010 survey, which collected a lot of data on area children, like age, ethnicity and body-mass index. Researchers also collected BMI information from parents and asked them about their child’s eating patterns.
After looking at the data, researchers uncovered that obese children of obese parents had the most food restrictions, while non-overweight children of non-overweight parents were the most pressured to finish their meals. Given a score between 1 and 4, with 4 representing the most, here’s how the data looked.
In regards to food restrictions:
- Overweight child of an overweight parent: 2.74
- Overweight child of a non-overweight parent: 2.56
- Non-overweight child of an overweight parent: 2.42
- Non-overweight children of a non-overweight parent: 2.36
In regards to pressure to eat:
- Non-overweight child of non-overweight parents: 2.35
- Non-overweight child of an overweight parent: 2.26
- Overweight child of a non-overweight parent: 2.06
- Overweight child of an overweight parent: 2.04
The results “may inform health care providers and public health interventionists about which parent/adolescent dyads are at highest risk for experiencing food restriction or pressure-to-eat parent feeding practices in the home environment and whom to target in interventions,” the researchers wrote.
Why The Differences?
The results are somewhat surprising, as one might naturally think that overweight kids of overweight parents would have the least food restrictions, and non-overweight children don’t get much pressure to eat, but that’s not what the study suggests. So why are the results the way they are?
Dr. Stophen Cook, of the Center for Community Health at University of Rochester Medical Center, said overweight children of overweight parents might have the most restrictions because the parents are concerned about their weight, or because the parents try diets to control their own weight, and force the same eating patterns on their children.
“We need to be aware and even consider assessing the parent’s weight status, as well as their feelings/beliefs and concerns about their eating habits,” said Cook, who was not involved in the study. “We need to consider and maybe ask ‘Has the parent been concerned about their own weight; have they tried lots of diets?'”
Dr. Berge also noted that previous studies showed that children who faced food restrictions/pressure-to-eat were at a higher risk for future eating disorders, so the study can help doctors intervene before a problem develops.
“Results from previous research on parent restriction and pressure-to-eat feeding practices have shown that children and adolescents whose parents use restriction and/or pressure-to-eat feeding practices are at higher risk for overweight/obesity and disordered eating behaviors,” Berge said. “This is important information for healthcare providers and public health interventionists in order to help reduce the occurrence of these parent feeding practices that have been shown to be harmful for adolescent weight and weight-related behaviors.”
Related source: MedPage Today