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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #277442
Title: Caregivers feeding styles questionnaire. Establishing cutoff points

Author
item HUGHES, SHERYL - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item CROSS, MATTHEW - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item HENNESSY, ERIN - National Cancer Institute (NCI, NIH)
item TOVAR, ALISON - Friedman School At Tufts
item ECONOMOS, CHRISTINA - Friedman School At Tufts
item POWER, THOMAS - Washington State University

Submitted to: Appetite
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/2/2011
Publication Date: 2/20/2012
Citation: Hughes, S.O., Cross, M.B., Hennessy, E., Tovar, A., Economos, C.D., Power, T.G. 2012. Caregivers feeding styles questionnaire. Establishing cutoff points. Appetite. 58(1):393-395.

Interpretive Summary: The Caregiver's Feeding Styles Questionnaire has proved to be a useful tool in predicting child weight status based on parent feeding behaviors. Although a useful tool for researchers, the scoring procedure can be problematic when using the questionnaire in clinical settings. This is a problem because a sample of at least 100 completed questionnaires are needed to conduct the scoring procedure to place parents into one of four feeding types. This paper describes possible scores that can be used with smaller samples or on a single parent based on averages from five different studies with low-income parents. This will be useful for clinicians who are interested in gaining information on the current status of parent-child feeding interactions. Once the current status is obtained, clinicians can suggest alternate feeding strategies that may reduce or prevent childhood obesity.

Technical Abstract: Researchers use the Caregiver's Feeding Styles Questionnaire (CFSQ) to categorize parent feeding into authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and uninvolved styles. The CFSQ assesses self-reported feeding and classifies parents using median splits which are used in a substantial body of parenting literature and allow for direct comparison across studies on dimensions of demandingness and responsiveness. No national norms currently exist for the CFSQ. This study establishes and recommends cutoff points most relevant for low-income, minority US samples that researchers and clinicians can use to assign parents to feeding styles. Median scores for five studies are examined and the average across these studies reported.