TY - JOUR

T1 - Fussy Eating among Children and Their Parents

T2 - Associations in Parent-Child Dyads, in a Sample of Children with and without Neurodevelopmental Disorders

AU - Thorsteinsdottir, Sigrun

AU - Olsen, Annemarie

AU - Olafsdottir, Anna S.

N1 - Funding Information: This research was funded by University of Iceland?s Research fund (doctoral fund and research grant [no grant number available]) and the Public Health Fund of the Directorate of Health. Annemarie Olsen received funding from the Taste for Life project financed by the Nordea-fonden. Funding Information: Funding: This research was funded by University of Iceland’s Research fund (doctoral fund and research grant [no grant number available]) and the Public Health Fund of the Directorate of Health. Annemarie Olsen received funding from the Taste for Life project financed by the Nordea-fonden Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Li-censee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Parents are important agents in shaping children’s eating habits. However, the associations between children’s and parents’ eating behaviors are complex and may be convoluted for var-ious reasons, such as parenting feeding styles, stressful mealtimes, and children’s neurodevelop-mental disorders (ND), such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperac-tivity Disorder (ADHD). The purpose of this study was to analyze associations between parents and their children’s fussy eating, in a cross-sectional sample of children, with and without ND. Ninety-seven parents answered screening questionnaires prior to an intervention study. Associations were investigated using two-way ANOVAs and chi-square analyses. Overall, children with ND accepted fewer food items and consumed unhealthier foods more frequently than children without ND. Fussy eating parents had children who accepted fewer food items and consumed unhealthier foods more frequently than children whose parents were not fussy eaters. Interaction effects were not significant. A higher proportion of fussy eating parents, than non-fussy eating parents, had children who had difficulties with combined foods and hidden ingredients. The findings highlight the need for further investigation into the relationships between parents’ influence on their children’s eating behavior and food consumption, as well as possible reciprocal impacts.

AB - Parents are important agents in shaping children’s eating habits. However, the associations between children’s and parents’ eating behaviors are complex and may be convoluted for var-ious reasons, such as parenting feeding styles, stressful mealtimes, and children’s neurodevelop-mental disorders (ND), such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperac-tivity Disorder (ADHD). The purpose of this study was to analyze associations between parents and their children’s fussy eating, in a cross-sectional sample of children, with and without ND. Ninety-seven parents answered screening questionnaires prior to an intervention study. Associations were investigated using two-way ANOVAs and chi-square analyses. Overall, children with ND accepted fewer food items and consumed unhealthier foods more frequently than children without ND. Fussy eating parents had children who accepted fewer food items and consumed unhealthier foods more frequently than children whose parents were not fussy eaters. Interaction effects were not significant. A higher proportion of fussy eating parents, than non-fussy eating parents, had children who had difficulties with combined foods and hidden ingredients. The findings highlight the need for further investigation into the relationships between parents’ influence on their children’s eating behavior and food consumption, as well as possible reciprocal impacts.

KW - ADHD

KW - Autism spectrum disorder

KW - Eating behaviors

KW - Fussy eating

KW - Neurodevelopmental disorders

KW - Parent-child dyads

U2 - 10.3390/nu13072196

DO - 10.3390/nu13072196

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 34202394

AN - SCOPUS:85108445027

VL - 13

JO - Nutrients

JF - Nutrients

SN - 2072-6643

IS - 7

M1 - 2196

ER -