PARENTAL ATTITUDE AND CHILD’S EATING BEHAVIORS 1

Relationship Between Parental Control and Child’s Eating Behaviors

Nicole A. Wolsleger, Chelsey E. Hawkes, and Emmie C. Howell

Brigham Young University-Idaho

Home and Family Department

PARENTAL ATTITUDE AND CHILD’S EATING BEHAVIORS 2

Relationship Between Parental Control and Child’s Eating Behaviors

Food is a big part of the human race. Every person has a different relationship with food,

but how did we come to that relationship? For this paper, we wanted to see if parents’ parenting

style has an influence on their children’s relationship with food. We hypothesize that the more

restrictive and demanding a parent’s parenting style is, the more likely a child is to develop poor

eating behaviors. Thus, our independent variable is parental control, and the dependent variable

is children’s eating behaviors. These two variables contain a negative relationship, with the more

restrictive and demanding parenting style leading to unhealthier eating patterns.

Parental Control and Modelling

In Dickens and Ogden’s article “The role of parental control and modelling in predicting

a child’s diet and relationship with food after they leave home. A prospective study” they noted

that little is known about the long-term impact that parents’ control and modelling have on their

children. They anticipated that the parents’ own behavior would dictate their children’s behavior

once they left home (Dickens & Ogden, 2014). They composed questionnaires to give to 403

participants aged 17-18 and their parents. A year later they contacted them again with another

questionnaire and received a final sample of 93 children (who were no longer living at home)

and their parents (Dickens & Ogden, 2014). With this study, they found that the effect of

parental control has little lasting impact once their children leave home (Dickens & Ogden,

2014). Although it might make a difference while living in the same household, it seems to not

pose a lasting influence. The real influence that children followed was the actual behavior of

their parents (Dickens & Ogden, 2014). If the parents exhibited unhealthy eating practices such

as unhealthy snacking and emotional eating, their children were likely to follow that example

into their own adulthood (Dickens & Ogden, 2014).

PARENTAL ATTITUDE AND CHILD’S EATING BEHAVIORS 3

Covert and Overt Control

In the article “Assessment of parental overt and covert control of child’s food intake: A

population-based validation study with mothers of preschoolers”, researchers looked at an even

deeper level of restriction and children’s eating habits and weight regulation. They already know

that parental strictness does have an effect on the child’s weight, based off of other research. Due

to this, the researchers in Sweden wanted to look at two different ways of restrictiveness, covert

and overt control, and how each one effects the child. Covert control means that the parents

controlled the child’s food intake in ways that the child did not know about; whereas overt

control is an obvious control that the child can detect (Nowicka et al., 2014).

For this study the researchers sent out a questionnaire to mothers who had preschool aged

children in Sweden. This questionnaire had questions to help distinguish if the mother uses

covert or overt control more with their child as well as a background questionnaire and the Child

Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ). The researchers hypothesized that the correlation between the

CFQ and pressure to eat with restriction would be positive for covert and overt control. They

also predicted “that covert control would be negatively associated with child BMI and positively

with maternal education” (Nowicka et al., 2014). Within this study, they found that mothers used

more overt control behaviors than covert. They also found that covert control was somewhat

related to restriction, but not related to pressure; whereas overt was more elated to CFQ pressure

and restriction. They also found that covert control lead to more healthy eating behaviors with a

decrease in snacking among 4 to 11 year olds. Covert control was also related to lower weight

status in children (Nowicka et al., 2014).

These findings do support our hypothesis. The research showed that a specific type of

control, covert, lead to better eating habits, whereas overt was more related to pressure. This
PARENTAL ATTITUDE AND CHILD’S EATING BEHAVIORS 4

shows that the way parents are restrictive with food will affect children negatively, but if done

covertly, it could lead to better eating habits.

Effects of Parental Control on Food Consumption and Restriction

A child’s ability to follow satiating clues can be negatively affected the more restrictive a

parent is on controlling their eating behaviors. There are two common patterns that many parents

follow when it comes to controlling a child’s food intake. They may put a limit or a restriction on

the consumption of eating foods that are high in sugar or fat content, or they may bribe a child

with the promise of receiving a reward if they successfully clean their plate. In an article entitled,

“Childhood Overweight and the Relationship Between Parent Behaviors, Parenting Style, and

Family Functioning” the long terms negative effects that parental food controls have on children

are discussed.

The authors of this article sought to understand the relationship between a parent's food

intake pressures on child’s eating habits, and how such behaviors may affect a child’s weight

gain. They also created studies to test out how the availability of healthy and unhealthy food

affected the child as well as how their own eating habits effected their children. An experimental

study using questionnaires was used to determine how a parent’s eating patterns can effect a

child’s weight gain. To test this out, the parents of the child were asked to leave food out for the

child to eat without any restriction. Within the study, it was found that when the mothers of

daughters who were overweight were much more restrictive than they were of daughters who

were not.

From the article, food restriction and indulgence have a strong effect on a child’s weight

gain. If a child is restricted or encouraged to eat more than they are hungry for, they will struggle

to self-regulate their eating patterns. As stated in the article written by Rhee Khung it states,
PARENTAL ATTITUDE AND CHILD’S EATING BEHAVIORS 5

Rewarding four-year-old children if they "cleaned their plate" resulted in less

responsiveness to the energy density of the food, and thereby greater calorie

consumption, than if children were allowed to focus on more internal cues of how full

their stomachs felt … this sort of parenting practice, if used continuously, may have long

term detrimental effects on a child's ability to self-regulate calorie consumption and result

in an increased reliance on external cues that dictate how much to eat.

From this quote we can see that rewarding a child when it comes to encouraging more of

a particular desired food poorly affected the child’s ability to understand their bodies cravings

and fullness cues. Within this article, a mention was given to the positive effects that allowing a

child to serve themselves had on the child. When the children that were studied were able to do

this, it was discovered that the children ate much smaller portions than they would have had they

been served the food instead. This article supported our hypothesis in the fact that strong parental

influences on a child’s food eating patterns has a problem effect on the child’s weight gain and

ability to understand when their bodies are hungry or full.

Permissive Parenting and the Intake Patterns of Low-Nutrient Dense Foods

The parenting style that exists within a home can have a strong effect on a child’s dieting

patterns. This is especially true when it comes to a child’s intake of low-nutrient dense foods. In

order to discover these effects, a study was performed and recorded in an article titled,

“Permissive Parental Feeding Behavior Is Associated with an Increase in Intake of Low-

Nutrient-Dense Foods among American Children Living in Rural Communities” The study was

tested using cross-sectional dyads. The dietary intake of 99 children was recorded during two

separate interviews. A child’s diet was considered healthy depending on how regularly they were
PARENTAL ATTITUDE AND CHILD’S EATING BEHAVIORS 6

able to partake of low-nutrient dense foods. Questionnaires were distributed and parents were

asked specific questions regarding their styles and practices regarding feeding their children.

It was discovered that, “Sixty percent of children and 76% of parents were overweight or

obese. A permissive feeding style, which is highly responsive to a child's requests and sets few

demands on him or her, was the most common (n=37) parental feeding style” (Hennessey et. al,

2012). From this quote, we can see that the more permissive a parent is when it comes to a

child’s eating habits and desires, it becomes more likely that the child will become obese. The

more attentive that a parent was to the child’s intake of low-nutrient dense foods, the more likely

they were to eat them, thus preventing unhealthy weight gain.

It seems that this article is for the majority a proponent towards our hypothesis. Whether

a parent is overly restrictive or overly conforming, both have a negative effect on a child’s eating

habits. It is best to teach a child way it is important to eat healthy and to lead by example when it

comes to the individual parent’s eating patterns. It also seems effective to provide children with

plenty of options for healthy food and to allow them to serve up their own portions so that they

can start to discover how to self-regulate.

Conclusion

Overall, it seems that each of the articles that were studied supported our hypothesis.

Whether one is assessing parenting practices, or the parents own eating behaviors, time again it

was concluded that if stronger restrictions were imposed upon a child, it was almost impossible

for the child to not develop negative eating patterns and to not have struggles understanding their

bodies. It does no good to provide too much pressure on a child to eat a certain way.
PARENTAL ATTITUDE AND CHILD’S EATING BEHAVIORS 7

References

Dickens, E., & Ogden, J. (2014). The role of parental control and modelling in predicting a

child’s diet and relationship with food after they leave home. A prospective study. Appetite,

76, 23-29. 10.1016/j.appet.2014.01.013.

Research indicates that parental control and parental modelling are key factors in shaping a

child’s eating behaviour. To date, however, little is known about how these factors influence

a child’s diet once they have left home. This prospective study evaluated the extent to which

a parent’s own behaviour and their use of control over food whilst their child was still living

at home predicted their child’s relationship with food once they had begun to live

independently. Parent/child dyads (n=93) took part in the study. Parents completed

baseline measures of parental control practices (overt control, covert control and pressure to

eat), their own diet (unhealthy snacks, unhealthy meals, healthy foods) and eating

behaviours (emotional, uncontrolled and restrained eating). At one year follow up, once

their child had left home, the child completed measures of their own diet and eating

behaviours. The results showed a clear role for modelling with concordance between a

child’s intake of unhealthy snacks and emotional eating and their parents’ own reports of

these behaviours. Furthermore, the child’s intake of healthy foods was also predicted by

their parent’s behaviour although there was both concordance and discordance between
parents and their children. No role for parental control was found for any measure of diet or

eating behaviour. It is concluded that a parent’s own behaviour rather than parental control

has a stronger longer lasting influence once a child has left home and that although this

mostly involves a child copying their parent’s behaviour (action) at times it also involves the

opposite (reaction).

Hennessy, E., Hughes, S. O., Goldberg, J. P., Hyatt, R. R., & Economos, C. D. (2012).

Permissive parental feeding behavior is associated with an increase in intake of low-

PARENTAL ATTITUDE AND CHILD’S EATING BEHAVIORS 8

nutrient-dense foods among american children living in rural communities. Journal of the

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 112(1), 142-148. 10.1016/j.jada.2011.08.030

Parents play an important role in shaping children's eating habits. Few studies have

evaluated the influence of both parenting style and parenting practices on child outcomes

such as dietary intake. During spring 2007, 99 parent–child dyads from four rural US areas

participated in this cross-sectional study. Child food intake was reported during two

interviewer-administered, parent-assisted 24-hour recalls. Diet quality was defined as the

average number of low-nutrient-dense (LND) foods consumed. Validated questionnaires

were used to assess parental feeding practices and feeding style. Pearson correlations

identified relationships among child food intake, parental feeding style typologies, and

covariates. Regression analyses were used to predict child diet quality. Sixty percent of

children and 76% of parents were overweight or obese. A permissive feeding style, which is

highly responsive to a child's requests and sets few demands on him or her, was the most

common (n=37) parental feeding style. This feeding style was associated with child intake

of LND foods ( r=0.3; P<0.001) and moderated the relationship between parental feeding

practices and child intake of LND foods. In the presence of a permissive feeding style,

higher levels of monitoring were associated with child intake of LND foods (β=.69; P

Nowicka, P., Flodmark, C., Hales, D., & Faith, M. S. (2014). Assessment of parental overt and

covert control of child's food intake: A population-based validation study with mothers of

preschoolers. Eating Behaviors: An International Journal, 15(4), 673-678.

10.1016/j.eatbeh.2014.10.001

Overt and covert control are novel constructs representing two different parental feeding

practices with regard to the child's ability to detect them. Preliminary research indicates that
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covert control is linked to a healthier diet and lower child weight status. In this study, we

report the first psychometric validation of the original measures of overt and covert control

outside the UK in a large sample of parents of preschoolers. While the fit for the original 9-

item 2-factor model was poor, shorter 8- and 6-item versions were supported by

confirmatory factor analysis (CFI>0.95, RMSEA<0.05). Results also suggest that the factor

structure and loadings were invariant (i.e., did not significantly differ) over time and

between child sexes. Both overt and covert control factors were moderately correlated with

CFQ monitoring. Overt control was also moderately related to CFQ pressure and weakly

correlated with CFQ restriction. Covert control, on the other hand, was moderately related to

restriction and not related with pressure. Correlations of both factors with child and parent

BMI were very small. Future studies need to establish causal associations between overt and

covert control and the obesity related outcomes. Overt and covert control are novel

constructs representing distinct parental feeding practices. We found strong evidence for the

reliability and validity of the original and revised scales.

Rhee, K. (2008). Childhood overweight and the relationship between parent behaviors, parenting

style, and family functioning. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social

Science, 615, 11-37. https://byui.idm.oclc.org/login?

url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=edb&AN=28788969&site=eds-live&scope=site

This article discusses the relationship between parent behaviors, parenting style, and how a

family functions with respect to the development of childhood over-weight. Parents can

influence a child's weight through specific feeding and activity practices and perhaps more

broadly through their parenting style and management of family functioning. These more
PARENTAL ATTITUDE AND CHILD’S EATING BEHAVIORS 10

global influences of parenting style and family functioning provide a framework in which

specific parent behaviors can be interpreted by the child. Therefore, understanding the

impact of specific parent behaviors within the context of parenting style and family

functioning needs to be explored. This article highlights the pervasive influence of parents

around the development of dietary habits, and suggests that additional efforts to examine the

interaction between specific feeding behaviors and parenting style/family functioning

should be promoted to better inform the development of interventions that may help stem

the growing prevalence of obesity among our children.