Abstract
Objective
This study evaluated associations between parent–child connectedness and communication, parent feeding behaviors (restriction, pressure to eat, and monitoring), and age- and sex-standardized child body mass index (zBMI) in a sample of pre-adolescent children aged 8–12 years.
Methods
A community sample of three hundred and eight child–parent dyads completed measures of communication and connectedness. Parents completed a feeding behavior measure and children were weighed and their height was measured. We examined whether parental feeding behaviors and parent–child communication and connectedness predicted child zBMI and whether parental feeding behaviors moderated the association between parent–child communication and connectedness and child zBMI.
Results
Feeding restriction was positively associated with zBMI, while both pressure to eat and food monitoring exhibited negative associations with zBMI. Child-reported communication was inversely associated with zBMI and parental pressure to eat moderated this association such that lower pressure to eat predicted a stronger association between communication and zBMI.
Conclusions
These findings are consistent with previous research suggesting that parent feeding strategies and parent–child communication are important contributors to child weight status. This study also provides preliminary evidence suggesting that adaptive parent–child communication is associated with lower body mass when parents avoid pressuring their child to eat. Our study provides an important extension of this body of research into middle childhood, a relatively understudied developmental stage.
Predator-induced stress changes parental feeding behavior in pied flycatchers
