Feeding practices of mothers from varied income and racial/ethnic groups

Objective: Relatively few investigators have explored the role of maternal control in describing the feeding behaviour of nonwhite parents of preschool-age children. The present study was conducted to examine if controlling feeding behaviours (i.e. restriction and pressuring) varied by income (middle vs. low) and race/ethnicity (white vs. Hispanic), and if they were associated with the body mass index (BMI) of their four-year-old offspring. Methods: Responses to the 'restriction' and 'pressure to eat' variables of the Child Feeding Questionnaire were compared between 51 white middle-income mothers and 49 Hispanic low-income mothers. Results: Mothers from both groups gave predominantly 'neutral' ratings in their self-reports of feeding practices. However, relative to the Hispanic mothers, white mothers indicated significantly less restriction and pressure to eat. Higher child BMI was predicted by male gender and being Hispanic. Conclusions: The utility of maternal feeding practices in predicting child overweight is discussed, and the significant association between the conceptually different constructs of restriction and pressure to eat is examined.