The role of parental control practices in explaining childrenʹs diet and BMI

This paper aimed to investigate which parents use which types of parenting control practices to manage their childrenʹs diets and to assess the impact of these practices on childrenʹs dietary patterns and their BMI. A cross-sectional survey of 518 parents with children aged 4–7 years was carried out in 18 primary schools across the South of England. Measures included aspects of parental control practices and the childʹs diet. Results showed that older parents with a lower BMI and who were stay at home parents used more “snack overt control”, “snack covert control” and “meal covert control” and those with more education used more covert control strategies. In contrast, male, non-white parents with younger children used more “pressure to eat”. In terms of the childrenʹs diet, the results showed links between parental and child demographics and aspects of unhealthy and healthy food intake. In addition, links were also found for parental control practices. For example, eating more unhealthy snacks was related to less covert control and more pressure to eat, eating fruit and vegetables was related to higher levels of both overt and covert control over meals and less pressure to eat and being neophobic was related to less covert control over meals and more pressure to eat. The childrenʹs BMIs were unrelated to any variables measured in the study.