Eleventh International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

Parents in general wish to guide their children towards healthy eating habits. However, the current situation of child obesity across countries clearly demonstrates that not all parents succeed. One reason for this is failure to set comprehensive boundaries for children when it comes to food and meals. Such boundaries can be more or less restrictive and can be set with more or less child involvement. Furthermore, boundaries related to food and meals are often associated with whether the child is told to taste the food served, or whether the child can decide for itself – a taste didactic consideration. Such complexity raises the question of what parenting style works best. This paper presents a study that examines the effectiveness of different parenting styles with regard to food and meals. A web survey of 32 items was conducted among parents (n=1668) with children aged 2-6 years. The survey was designed to examine: 1) level of restrictions, 2) child involvement, 3) taste didactic approach, and 4) perceived effect. Utilizing factor and cluster analysis results indicate that there are three groups of parents with distinct parenting styles. Both the highly restrictive and the non-restrictive parenting styles can potentially have positive effects – but only if there is a high degree of child involvement. The most negatively perceived effect is found among a group of parents who are predominantly restrictive, with a low degree of child involvement, and a taste didactic approach characterized by pressuring the child to taste the food being served.