GFHS Study Finds Parental Cooperation Key to Healthy Habits

STUDY SHOWS WHEN FATHERS AND MOTHERS ARE IN SYNC, CHILDREN ARE MORE LIKELY TO DEVELOP HEALTHY EATING PRACTICES

Raising children is hard work. Parents want their children to grow up happy, healthy and well-adjusted. Yet in the last 30 years, obesity rates among Canadian youth and children has tripled. Clearly, there is still work to be done to help parents guide their children towards healthy eating habits.

Parents have the greatest influence over their child’s eating and nutritional habits, especially young children. They usually decide what the child will eat, and when and how they will eat it. But in homes with two parents, there is sometimes disagreement between mother and father over what is best for the child. In fact, differences in opinion over parenting practices in general are common. According to a recent study, how parents deal with these differences can have a direct effect on the nutritional health of children.

The study, published in Nutrients, examined the correlation between coparenting quality – the willingness of parents to support one another and present a common front – and positive food parenting practices.

“The idea was to look at what environmental factors can influence child nutrition,” said Family Relations and Nutrition PhD student and co-author of the study, Sabrina Douglas. “Most of the research on child feeding has focused on mothers. This research looked at how important it was for fathers to take an active role.”

Both fathers and mothers were surveyed about whether or not they felt supported by their partner – do you feel like you are in competition with your partner? does your partner undermine your parenting? how do you feel about the division of labour in the household? etc. From their answers, a coparenting quality score was derived. Then, the same subjects were surveyed about food parenting practices – do you restrict food such as sweets? do you use food as a reward? do you use it to control emotions? etc.

“We found that parents with a higher coparenting quality were more likely to demonstrate positive food parenting practices,” said Douglas. “For example, there was less restriction of food for health reasons – saying ‘No, you can’t have this or that,’ which is what you do in the moment, usually when you are out of patience. Instead parents are more coordinated and can work together on having better parenting food practices like encouraging balance and variety.”

This study was part of the Guelph Family Health Study, which is a longitudinal study that examines the health habits of families and children across Canada. Douglas graduate research was supervised by Dr. Jess Haines, associate director of the Guelph Family Health Study. Studies such as the one Douglas and her co-authors conducted help provide another piece of the puzzle in understanding how to build strong, healthy families and give some guidance for parents and guardians.

“I like this research because it is relevant,” said Douglas. “And, it can be applied to non-traditional families as well. Really coparenting can involve grandparents or really any other supportive party.”