Research report Pressure to eat and restriction are associated with child eating behaviours and maternal concern about child weight, but not child body mass index, in 2- to 4-year-old children Jane E. Gregory, Susan J. Paxton *, Anna M. Brozovic School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3086, Australia Introduction Parents play a key role in their children’s diets. In the early years in particular, parents tend to shape the development of their children’s eating habits by determining which foods are made available for their families. Additionally, feeding strategies that parents use to control the quantity and content of their children’s food intake may influence children’s eating behaviour (Ventura & Birch, 2008). Parental feeding practices include directive and non- directive strategies. One directive feeding technique is pressure to eat, that is, pushing children to eat more food, or to increase their intake of healthy foods. Another directive approach is restriction, which involves an attempt to control children’s diet by restricting their access to unhealthy foods. Non-directive feeding practices include monitoring the children’s intake of unhealthy foods, and modelling healthy eating (Rhee, 2008; Ventura & Birch, 2008). Costanzo and Woody (1985) proposed that parents are more likely to use higher levels of control over child feeding when they are concerned about their child’s weight, but that excessive control may disrupt a child’s ability to self-regulate their eating. Therefore, well-intended strategies to modify children’s eating habits may actually exacerbate problematic eating behaviour. For example, pressuring children to eat more has been observed to reduce food consumption and produce more negativity about the food they were being pressured to eat (Galloway, Fiorito, Francis, & Birch, 2006). Restriction of snack foods has been shown to lead to increased preference for and intake of the restricted food once the prohibition was lifted (Fisher & Birch, 1999; Jansen, Mulkens, & Jansen, 2007). However, this has not been observed for modelling of healthy eating, which has been found to increase a child’s intake of the foods being modelled (Addessi, Galloway, Visalberghi, & Birch, 2005; Harper & Sanders, 1975). Associations between parental feeding practices and child weight status have been examined extensively over the past decade. Cross-sectional studies have found that pressure to eat was associated with lower child weight status (Birch et al., 2001; Brann & Skinner, 2005; Carnell & Wardle, 2007; Powers, Chamberlin, van Schaick, Sherman, & Whitaker, 2006), while restriction was related to higher child weight status in some studies (Birch et al., 2001; Francis, Hofer, & Birch, 2001) but not others (Carnell & Wardle, Appetite 54 (2010) 550–556 ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 8 September 2009 Received in revised form 15 February 2010 Accepted 20 February 2010 Keywords: Children Feeding practices Pressure to eat Restriction, Monitoring Modelling Child eating behaviours Body mass index Concern about weight ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between maternal concern about child under- and overweight, the use of maternal feeding practices (pressure to eat and restriction, monitoring and modelling of healthy eating), child eating behaviours (fussiness and food responsiveness) and child body mass index. The sample consisted of 183 mothers of 2- to 4-year-old children who completed questionnaires about their feeding practices, concern about their child’s weight, their child’s eating behaviours, height and weight. Correlation analyses found that pressure to eat was positively associated with concern about child underweight, while restriction was positively associated with concern about child overweight. Monitoring and modelling were not independently associated with concern about child weight. Regression analysis revealed that child food fussiness positively predicted maternal pressure to eat, and this relationship was partially mediated by concern about child underweight. Child food responsiveness positively predicted restriction, and this relationship was partially mediated by concern about child overweight. Child BMI did not independently predict maternal feeding practices. The findings provide a useful contribution to the literature on determinants of maternal feeding practices, but further research is necessary to gain an understanding of the impact of these behaviours on child eating behaviour and weight. ß 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. E-mail address: Susan.Paxton@latrobe.edu.au (S.J. Paxton). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Appetite journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/appet 0195-6663/$ – see front matter ß 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2010.02.013