The Effect of Parents' Nutritional Practices on Children's Eating Behaviors

Abstract

It is known that parents' feeding practices have an important effect on children's health, and children learn nutrition by imitating their parents. In this study, it was aimed to examine the effects of parents' nutritional practices on the eating behaviors of children attending pre-school education.The sample of the study consisted of the parents of 206 children aged 3-6 who were educated in kindergartens. The data related to the research were obtained with a questionnaire form. Parents' statements were taken as basis in obtaining nutritional and anthropometric data of parents and children. 85.9% of the parents participating in the study were mothers. As the education level of the parents increased; the controlled feeding scores increased, while the emotional feeding scores decreased (p<0.05). Similarly, emotional overeating and emotional undereating scores of children decreased with increasing age of parents (p<0.05). According to BMI, 27.7% of children with normal body weight were perceived as underweight by their parents. On the other hand, 77.4% of overweight children were perceived as normal weight by their parents (p<0.01). Parents' nutrition and feeding practices affect children's nutrition significantly. It will be very beneficial to provide nutrition education practices for parents to prevent childhood obesity, which is becoming increasingly common today.