The Stability and Continuity of Maternally Reported and Observed Child Eating Behaviours and Feeding Practices across Early Childhood

Powell, Faye; Farrow, Claire; Meyer, Caroline; Haycraft, Emma

doi:10.3390/ijerph15051017

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The Stability and Continuity of Maternally Reported and Observed Child Eating Behaviours and Feeding Practices across Early Childhood

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School of Psychology, Faculty of Creative Arts, Technologies & Science (CATS), University of Bedfordshire, University Square, Luton LU1 3JU, UK

Department of Psychology, School of Life & Health Sciences, Aston University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK

WMG, International Manufacturing Centre, University of Warwick and Warwick Medical School, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK

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School of Sport, Exercise & Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(5), 1017; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15051017

Received: 17 April 2018 / Revised: 11 May 2018 / Accepted: 11 May 2018 / Published: 18 May 2018

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Eating and Exercise in Children and Adolescents)

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Abstract

Given that many eating behaviours and food preferences develop early in childhood and track across childhood, adolescence and into adulthood, interest has grown in the developmental trajectory of these behaviours. The aims of this study were twofold. First, to explore whether maternal reports of child eating behaviour and feeding practices are validated by independent observations of these constructs. Second, to explore the continuity and stability of both maternally reported and independently observed child eating behaviours and maternal feeding practices during early childhood. Sixty-five mothers completed measures of their child’s eating behaviour and their own feeding practices and mother–child dyads were observed during a family mealtime at approximately 3 and 4 years of age. Maternal reports of their child’s eating behaviours were validated by independent observations, however maternally reported feeding practices were not validated by observations of these behaviours. Maternally reported and independently observed child eating behaviours and parental feeding practices remained stable and showed continuity between 3 and 4 years of age, with the exception of child difficulty to feed and maternal pressure to eat which both significantly decreased over time. Findings provide an insight into the validity of maternal reports of fussy eating behaviour and parental feeding practices and the developmental trajectory of these behaviours across early childhood. View Full-Text

Keywords: fussy eating; parental feeding practices; eating behaviour; child health; longitudinal research; observation; validation

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

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MDPI and ACS Style

Powell, F.; Farrow, C.; Meyer, C.; Haycraft, E. The Stability and Continuity of Maternally Reported and Observed Child Eating Behaviours and Feeding Practices across Early Childhood. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15, 1017. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15051017

AMA Style

Powell F, Farrow C, Meyer C, Haycraft E. The Stability and Continuity of Maternally Reported and Observed Child Eating Behaviours and Feeding Practices across Early Childhood. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2018; 15(5):1017. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15051017

Chicago/Turabian Style

Powell, Faye, Claire Farrow, Caroline Meyer, and Emma Haycraft. 2018. "The Stability and Continuity of Maternally Reported and Observed Child Eating Behaviours and Feeding Practices across Early Childhood" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 15, no. 5: 1017. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15051017

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