Examining Multiple Parenting Behaviors on Young Children's Dietary Fat Consumption

Objective: To understand the association between parenting and children's dietary fat consumption, this study tested a comprehensive model of parenting that included parent household rules, parent modeling of rules, parent mediated behaviors, and parent support. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Baseline data from the MOVE/me Muevo project, a recreation site-based obesity prevention and control intervention trial. Participants: Five hundred forty-one parents of children between the ages of 5 and 8 years and living in San Diego County. Main Outcome Measure: Children's fat consumption based on parent report using a short food frequency questionnaire. Analysis: A hierarchical linear regression was conducted. In exploratory analyses, a stepwise backward elimination approach was used. Results: Children's fat consumption was positively associated with parent household rules (P < 01) and negatively associated with parent modeling of rules (P < 01). Conclusions and Implications: Controlling parenting behaviors, such as rule setting, are associated with more frequent fat consumption, whereas role modeling healthful behaviors is associated with less frequent fat consumption. Changing parenting behaviors with regard to how they feed their children is a logical avenue for improving eating behaviors.