The Relationship Between Modeling, Caregiver Education, and Diverse Diet in Costa Rican Preschool Children
Abstract
1. Introduction
1.1. Maternal Education and Obesity Risk in Children
1.2. Maternal Education and Usage of Modeling
1.3. Usage of Healthy Eating Modeling and Healthy Eating in Children
1.4. This Study
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Participants and Setting
2.2. Procedure
2.3. Measures
- Parental modeling of healthy eating: This measure was a subscale of the broader Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire [27], which includes 49 Likert-scale items that assess the frequency of different caregivers’ actions related to feeding practices. The modeling subscale has 4 items: (a) “I try to eat healthy foods in front of my child, even if they are not my favorites”, (b) “I model healthy eating to my child by eating healthy foods myself”, (c) “I try to show enthusiasm towards eating healthy food”, and (d) “I try to show my child how much I enjoy eating healthy foods”. The response format is of 5 points (1 = never to 5 = always). Previous studies have documented a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.80 for this scale. For this study, Cronbach’s alpha was 0.73.
- Diet diversity: Diet diversity is a simple, valid, and reliable indicator commonly used to signal nutrient adequacy in children [28], hence, it was used as a proxy for healthy eating in this population. This study used a simple food group count to assess diet diversity. Caregivers were asked about the food intake of their children in the past 24 h. Food items reported were categorized into food groups: starchy staples, milk/milk products, eggs, fleshy meat/fish, legumes and nuts, Vitamin A-rich fruits and vegetables, and other fruits and vegetables. This scale ranges from 0 to 7, and scores closest to 7 indicate a more diverse diet.
- Caregiver’s educational level: The highest out of 8 levels of education completed (e.g., from “some primary school” to “complete college education or more”). Responses were later converted to a numerical scale, ranging from 1 to 8, in which the highest scores indicated the highest levels of education.
- Body mass index (BMI) of caregiver and child: Caregivers were asked to report on their own height and weight in kilograms and centimeters to calculate their BMI. BMI calculation followed the formula given by the World Health Organization: dividing weight in kilos by height in meters squared. In the case of the target children, this initial BMI percentile score was obtained for each child. A healthy BMI percentile score in children is considered to fall between the ranges of percentile 5 and 85, according to the guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [29].
- Sex of the child: caregivers were asked to report on the sex of their child between the options of “Male”, “Female”, and “I rather not say”.
- Income: Access to a list of 13 goods was used as a proxy for this variable. The 13 goods comprise a cellular phone, a landline, a refrigerator, hot water, a water tank, a laptop, a desktop, tablets, a radio or sound system, a car, a motorcycle, a plasma or LCD TV, and paid TV services (cable, satellite, or other paid TV services). Participants indicated that they did or did not possess these items at home, and a score was obtained after the total amount of goods was summed up. If they indicated having the 13 items, they were considered to have the highest incomes.
2.4. Statistical Analyses
3. Results
Mediation Analyses
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Target Children | Caregivers | ||
---|---|---|---|
Male | Female | ||
n | 40 | 41 | 81 |
Age | M = 4.4 (SD = 0.6) | M = 4.5 (SD = 0.6) | M = 33.2 (SD = 7.2) |
Average BMI percentile score | M = 60.4 (SD = 37) | M = 66 (SD = 32) | |
BMI | M = 26.5 (SD = 4.6) | ||
Educational level | Some college, complete college, graduate degree: 94% | ||
Access to goods | M = 4.4 (SD = 0.6) |
Pearson r | Diet Diversity |
---|---|
Caregiver education | 0.29 * |
Parental modeling | 0.39 ** |
Variable | Model 1 | Model 2 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
B | SE B | β | B | SE B | β | |
BMI of caregiver | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.1 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.15 |
Sex of the child | −0.3 | 0.24 | −0.13 | −0.24 | 0.22 | −0.11 |
Caregiver educational level | 0.3 * | 0.14 | 0.23 | 0.17 | 0.14 | 0.13 |
Modeling | - | 0.67 ** | 0.18 | 0.39 | ||
0.03 | 0.16 ** |
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Rodríguez-Arauz, G.; Reyes-Fernández, B.; Gómez-Salas, G. The Relationship Between Modeling, Caregiver Education, and Diverse Diet in Costa Rican Preschool Children. Nutrients 2025, 17, 2087. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17132087
Rodríguez-Arauz G, Reyes-Fernández B, Gómez-Salas G. The Relationship Between Modeling, Caregiver Education, and Diverse Diet in Costa Rican Preschool Children. Nutrients. 2025; 17(13):2087. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17132087
Chicago/Turabian StyleRodríguez-Arauz, Gloriana, Benjamín Reyes-Fernández, and Georgina Gómez-Salas. 2025. "The Relationship Between Modeling, Caregiver Education, and Diverse Diet in Costa Rican Preschool Children" Nutrients 17, no. 13: 2087. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17132087
APA StyleRodríguez-Arauz, G., Reyes-Fernández, B., & Gómez-Salas, G. (2025). The Relationship Between Modeling, Caregiver Education, and Diverse Diet in Costa Rican Preschool Children. Nutrients, 17(13), 2087. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17132087