Research: perspectives in practice
Attitudes, practices, and concerns about child feeding and child weight status among socioeconomically diverse white, Hispanic, and African-American mothers

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Abstract

Parents play an important role in the development of their children’s eating behaviors. We conducted 12 focus groups (three white, three African-American, and three Hispanic-American low-income groups; three white middle-income groups) of mothers (N=101) of 2- to less than 5-year-old children to explore maternal attitudes, concerns, and practices related to child feeding and perceptions about child weight. We identified the following major themes from responses to our standardized focus group guide: 12 groups wanted to provide good nutrition, and most wanted children to avoid eating too many sweets and processed foods; 12 groups prepared foods their children liked, accommodated specific requests, and used bribes and rewards to accomplish their feeding goals (sweets were commonly used as bribes, rewards, or pacifiers); and 11 of 12 groups believed their children were prevaricating when they said they were full and mothers encouraged them to eat more. The common use of strategies that may not promote healthful weight suggests work is needed to develop culturally and socioeconomically effective overweight prevention programs. Further study is needed to verify racial/ethnic or income differences in attitudes, practices, and concerns about child feeding and perceptions of child weight.

Section snippets

Methods

We conducted 12 focus groups among mothers of children 2 to less than 5 years old. Nine groups (three white [total n=22], three African American [total n=24], and three Hispanic American [total n=27]) were recruited from low-income families participating in the Georgia Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). The Georgia Division of Public Health staff identified and obtained Health District permission to recruit from three Atlanta metropolitan area WIC

Results

The six topic areas with their key findings are summarized in Figure 2. Additional themes, findings, and comments for each topic are described.

Discussion

Many of the goals and concerns about child feeding identified by our focus groups of mothers were in accordance with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Food Guide Pyramid (20). However, several of their strategies for accomplishing these goals diverged from those currently recommended to promote healthful eating and to prevent overweight and parent child-feeding conflicts. These well-intended, but potentially counterproductive, strategies included accommodating specific requests for

Conclusions

Focus group themes identified that may be useful to dietetics professionals for tailoring interventions to promote healthful child weight include:

  • Build on mothers’ feeding goals to provide good nutrition to their children by enhancing their knowledge of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and appropriate child portion sizes, and providing culturally appropriate suggestions for balancing convenience, variety, and food costs. Providing education on meal planning, quick-to-prepare healthful

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Marco Pardi, MS, for conducting the focus groups. This research was supported in part by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contract No. 200-95-0957, Task Order No. 0957-029 to LL Birch through Penn State Geisinger, via American Association of Health Plans.

B. Sherry, J. McDivitt, and K. S. Scanlon are with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, Atlanta,GA, USA.

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  • Cited by (0)

    B. Sherry, J. McDivitt, and K. S. Scanlon are with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, Atlanta,GA, USA.

    L. L. Birch and L. A. Francis are with the Pennsylvania State University, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University Park, PA, USA.

    F. H. Cook and S. Sanders are with The Georgia Division of Public Health, Nutrition Section, Atlanta, GA, USA.

    J. L. Prish is with the University of Southern Illinois, Carbondale, IL, USA.

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