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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #324344
Title: Predicting habits of vegetable parenting practices to facilitate the design of change programmes

Author
item BARANOWSKI, TOM - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item CHEN, TZU - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item O'CONNOR, TERESIA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item HUGHES, SHERYL - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item DIEP, CASSANDRA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item BELTRAN, ALICIA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item BRAND, LEAH - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item NICKLAS, THERESA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item BARANOWSKI, JANICE - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)

Submitted to: Public Health Nutrition
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/6/2015
Publication Date: 12/4/2015
Citation: Baranowski, T., Chen, T.A., O'Connor, T.M., Hughes, S.O., Diep, C.S., Beltran, A., Brand, L., Nicklas, T., Baranowski, J. 2015. Predicting habits of vegetable parenting practices to facilitate the design of change programmes. Public Health Nutrition. doi:10.1017/S1368980015003432.

Interpretive Summary: Vegetable intake is important for a child's health and parents are important influences on whether their child eats vegetables. Habit appears to be a major influence on parenting behavior. Psychosocial models may be used to predict habit to gain insight to guide habit change intervention programs. This paper used variables from a model to predict the habit of using four different parent practice clusters to help their child eat vegetables. The most predictive psychosocial variables varied by type of parenting practice habit and were only weakly predictive. A video game which simulates parent-child interactions and offers the parent a selection of options of effective and ineffective ways to encourage their child to eat vegetables could be the intervention modality for modifying these psychosocial influences and improving vegetable parenting practices.

Technical Abstract: Habit has been defined as the automatic performance of a usual behaviour. The present paper reports the relationships of variables from a Model of Goal Directed Behavior to four scales in regard to parents' habits when feeding their children: habit of (i) actively involving child in selection of vegetables; (ii) maintaining a positive vegetable environment; (iii) positive communications about vegetables; and (iv) controlling vegetable practices. We tested the hypothesis that the primary predictor of each habit variable would be the measure of the corresponding parenting practice. Internet survey data from a mostly female sample of parents of 307 pre-school (3–5-year-old) children in Houston, Texas, USA were analyzed. Primary analyses employed regression modelling with backward deletion, controlling for demographics and parenting practices behaviour. Three of the four models accounted for about 50% of the variance in the parenting practices habit scales. Each habit scale was primarily predicted by the corresponding parenting practices scale (suggesting validity). The habit of active child involvement in vegetable selection was also most strongly predicted by two barriers and rudimentary self-efficacy; the habit of maintaining a positive vegetable environment by one barrier; the habit of maintaining positive communications about vegetables by an emotional scale; and the habit of controlling vegetable practices by a perceived behavioural control scale. The predictiveness of the psychosocial variables beyond parenting practices behaviour was modest. Discontinuing the habit of ineffective controlling parenting practices may require increasing the parent's perceived control of parenting practices, perhaps through simulated parent–child interactions.