Date Presented 03/26/20
This preliminary data analysis identifies a parent-empowerment strategy that may be important for encouraging children to try new foods. Parents who reported having clear rules and routines for their family demonstrated approximately nine times greater odds that their child would willingly try new foods. Educating parents to emphasize clear rules and routines, specifically during mealtimes, may create a predictable mealtime experience and allow children to feel comfortable exploring novel foods.
Primary Author and Speaker: Victoria Merritt
Additional Authors and Speakers: Angela Caldwell
PURPOSE: Food neophobias (unwillingness to try new foods) can lead to poor psychological and nutritional outcomes for children (Mitchell, Farrow, Haycraft, & Meyer, 2013). To prevent food neophobia, parents should be encouraged to model healthy eating habits and be empowered with strategies (Howard, Mallan, Byrne, Magarey, & Daniels, 2012). Strategies include frequent family meals and clear family rules and routines to promote healthy habits that persist into adulthood. The purpose of this study is to examine associations between frequent family meals, clear family rules and routines, and food neophobia in young children.
DESIGN: This preliminary data analysis used baseline data collected as part of a longitudinal study investigating the effects of two group-based, family-centered interventions. We recruited parents of young children to participate in the Partnering for Prevention trial using flyers and community partners at local Family Support Centers located in underserved neighborhoods. To be eligible to participate, parents had to be over the age of 18, speak and read English, have a child under the age of 5 years, and live in an underserved neighborhood.
METHOD: Parents completed baseline assessments prior to participating in the intervention. Measures included frequency of family meals, questions used to identify persistent picky eaters (Toyama & Agras, 2016) and the Parental Empowerment and Efficacy Measure (PEEM). We completed a logistic regression analysis in which responses to three questions from these measures were dichotomized to represent high (>5 meals per week) vs. low (<5 meals per week) frequency of family meals, consistent (“mostly” or “definitely”) vs. non-consistent (“kind of,” “not really,” or “defnitely not”) parental use of family rules and routines, and child willingness (“yes”) or unwillingness (“no”) to trying new or unfamiliar food. Participant demographics including child age, child race, household income and parental education were also collected.
RESULTS: We recruited 45 parents from diverse backgrounds to participate. In a logistic regression model fitted to assess the ability of frequency of family meals and clear rules and routines to predict willingness to try new foods, consistent and clear family rules and routines emerged as a significant predictor of child willingness to try novel foods (β = 2.45, p = .009). Therefore, we fitted a second model assessing family rules and routines as an independent predictor of child willingness to try new foods. After controlling for the demographic covariates of child age, child race, household income, and parent education, consistent family rules and routines predicted child willingness to try novel foods. The odds of a child being willing to try new foods were 8.9x greater if their family had consistent rules and routines than if they did not have consistent rules and routines (β = 2.18, p = .035).
CONCLUSION: Parents’ use of clear and routines during mealtimes may positively influence whether their child will readily be willing to try new foods. When working with young children, setting these expectations can create a predictable and comfortable experience, allowing the child the freedom to explore novel food items in a pressure-free environment. Future analyses will examine how parental use of rules and routines can influence a child’s willingness to try new foods over time and identify other helpful strategies to empower parents trying to encourage healthy eating habits.
IMPACT STATEMENT: This proposal provides powerful evidence to support the use of clear and consistent family rules and routines as a method for preventing and treating food neophobia in young children. Clinicians can use this information to enhance feeding interventions with families.
References
Mitchell, G. L., Farrow, C., Haycraft, E., & Meyer, C. (2013). Parental influences on children’s eating behaviour and characteristics of successful parent-focussed interventions. Appetite,60, 85-94. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2012.09.014
Howard, A. J., Mallan, K. M., Byrne, R., Magarey, A., & Daniels, L. A. (2012). Toddlers’ food preferences. The impact of novel food exposure, maternal preferences and food neophobia. Appetite, 59(3), 818-825. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2012.08.022
Toyama, H., & Agras, W. S. (2016). A test to identify persistent picky eaters. Eating behaviors, 23, 66-69.
