Assessment of parent and child perceptions of rules and expectations regarding beverage intake

Beverage consumption patterns of children influenced weight outcomes in previous studies. Two evaluation instruments were tested in parent‐child dyads (n=79) to assess perceptions of rules and expectations regarding beverage intake. Child (n=28) and parent statements (n=26) were constructed and children (mean age 11.5 years, 53% boys, 81% white) and parents (91% 31–50 year age range, 81% women, 91% white) separately rated their agreement with statements on a 5‐point scale. Principal components analysis resulted in 5 child scales and 6 parent scales. Child scales included meal‐ (4 items, α=.80) and beverage‐specific rules (sweetened beverages, 4 items, α=.88; milk, 2 items, α=.78), parent communication (3 items, α=.74), offering choices by permission (3 items, α=.74) or availability (3 items, α=.53). Parent scales included permissiveness (2 items, α=.70), limiting sweetened beverage intake (5 items, α=.86), encouraging milk intake (5 items, α=.78), role modeling (3 items, α=.73), and family member influences (3 items, α=.66). Correlations with parent and child intake of milk, soft drinks, fruit drinks and orange juice, as measured by a food frequency questionnaire, confirmed that the scales were measuring parent or child constructs related to beverage intake. These instruments can be used to evaluate post‐intervention changes in rules/expectations for beverage intake in parents and children.