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Title: Latina mothers' influences on child appetite regulation

Author
item SILVA GARCIA, KARINA - Washington State University
item POWER, THOMAS - Washington State University
item FISHER, JENNIFER - Temple University
item O'CONNOR, TERESIA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item HUGHES, SHERYL - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)

Submitted to: Appetite
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/6/2016
Publication Date: 8/1/2016
Citation: Silva Garcia, K., Power, T.G., Fisher, J.O., O'Connor, T.M., Hughes, S.O. 2016. Latina mothers' influences on child appetite regulation. Appetite. 103:200-207.

Interpretive Summary: How parents feed their child influences what and how much they eat, thereby impacting their child's weight status. In this study, we examined how mothers' autonomy promoting behaviors while serving their children food (allowing child independence during eating episodes) was associated with how children regulated their eating. Participants were low-income Latino children – a group at high risk for development of childhood obesity. Latina mothers and their 4-5 year old children were audio/videotaped while served a buffet meal. The mothers also completed questionnaires related to their child's eating behaviors and eating in the absence of hunger. Maternal autonomy promotion during serving was assessed by three measures: mother allows the child choice, child serves their own food, and mother does not restrict food. Mothers who allowed their children choices reported that their children had a lessened tendency to overeat due to their emotional states (boredom, anxiety). Mothers who did not restrict food reported their children being less responsive to food and having a lessened tendency to overeat due to their emotional state. Unexpectedly, moderate levels of autonomy promotion during serving by mothers was associated with the greatest level of children eating in the absence of hunger. This last finding makes it difficult to make recommendations for parent education or intervention. Longitudinal studies with more detailed assessments of both maternal behavior and child eating need to be conducted to further understand child eating patterns that contribute to the development of childhood obesity.

Technical Abstract: Parents influence child weight through interactions that shape the development of child eating behaviors. In this study we examined the association between maternal autonomy promoting serving practices and child appetite regulation. We predicted that maternal autonomy promoting serving practices would be positively associated with child appetite regulation. Participants were low-income Latino children-a group at high risk for the development of childhood obesity. A total of 186 low-income Latina mothers and their 4-5 year old children came to a laboratory on two separate days. On the first day, mothers and children chose foods for a meal from a buffet and were audio/videotaped so that maternal autonomy promoting serving practices could be later coded. On the second day, children completed the Eating in the Absence of Hunger (EAH) task to measure child appetite regulation. Mothers also completed the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) to measure other aspects of child appetite regulation (food responsiveness, satiety responsiveness, and emotional overeating). Maternal autonomy promotion during serving was assessed using seven separate measures of child and maternal behavior. Principal components analyses of these serving measures yielded three components: allows child choice, child serves food, and mother does not restrict. Consistent with hypotheses, maternal autonomy promoting serving practices (i.e., allows child choice and does not restrict) were negatively associated with maternal reports of child food responsiveness and emotional overeating (CEBQ). The results for the EAH task were more complex-mothers who were autonomy promoting in their serving practices had children who ate the most in the absence of hunger, but this linear effect was moderated somewhat by a quadratic effect, with moderate levels of autonomy promotion during serving associated with the greatest child EAH.