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PARENTAL INFLUENCES ON CHILDREN'S EATING BEHAVIOR AND RELATIVE WEIGHT
Author(s) -
Klesges Robert C.,
Coates Thomas J.,
Brown Guendoline,
SturgeonTillisch Janet,
MoldenhauerKlesges Lisa M.,
Holzer Barbara,
Woolfrey Joan,
Vollmer Jim
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
journal of applied behavior analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1938-3703
pISSN - 0021-8855
DOI - 10.1901/jaba.1983.16-371
Subject(s) - psychology , meal , developmental psychology , eating behavior , body weight , feeding behavior , food intake , demography , obesity , medicine , endocrinology , sociology
We investigated the relationship between selected parent behaviors, child mealtime behavior, and infant relative weight. Subjects were 7 male and 7 female children varying in age from 12 to 30 months (mean = 23.9 months). Each subject and parents were observed during the dinnertime meal on two occasions using the BATMAN (Bob and Tom's Method of Assessing Nutrition). The children spent 58% of the mealtime eating. They spent very little time making active decisions about what and how much they ate (food requests = 2% of the time; food refusals = 1% of the time). We found significant correlations between child relative weight and (a) parental prompts to eat ( r = .81, p < .001), (b) parental food offers ( r = .51, p < .05), and (c) parental encouragement to eat ( r = .82, p < .001). Thus, the present study suggests a relationship between certain parental variables and the relative weight of their children.