Parenting Practices And Fruit And Vegetable Intake Among Latino Parents And Children

Abstract

Latino children growing up in the United States have a high prevalence of obesity. Fruit and vegetable consumption is indicative of diet quality and may be related to obesity among youth. Unfortunately, most youth do not meet the recommendations for fruit and vegetable (FV) intake. Parenting practices such as role modeling, controlling availability and accessibility at home, and family meals influence children’s weight and nutrition-related behaviors. Padres Preparados, Jóvenes Saludables is a community-based parenting skills and nutrition education program for Latino families with youth 10-14 years. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that youth perceptions of the frequency of parenting practices of Latino fathers are correlated with youth fruit and vegetable intake using baseline data from this program (n = 69 families to date). Fathers and youth completed surveys to assess perceptions of the frequency of parental role modeling of fruit and vegetable intakes, making fruits and vegetables available at home, and the frequency of family participation in family meals. Fathers and children reported usual fruit and vegetable intakes via food frequency questions. Father and child skin carotenoid levels were assessed using Resonance Raman Spectroscopy as a biomarker for fruit and vegetable intake. The mean age (years) was 39.3 ± 6.8 years and 11.5 ± 1.5 years for fathers and youth, respectively. Slightly more than half of the youth were male (55%). Fathers’ mean BMI (kg/m2) was 29.4 ± 4.4 and youth mean BMI-for-age percentile was 84.5 ± 19.9. The majority (68%) of the youth were overweight or obese, with 43% classified as obese. The majority of fathers reported annual household incomes below $49,999 and about half of households were food insecure. The correlation between fathers’ and children’s skin carotenoid scores was positive (r = 0.369, p = 0.002) as well as the correlation between children’s vegetable intake and their skin carotenoid scores (r = 0.266, p = 0.027). Overall, congruence between fathers’ and children’s perceptions of the frequency of fathers’ parenting practice was only found for making fruits and making vegetables available at home. Significant associations were observed between fathers’ and children’s perceptions of the frequency of fathers making fruit available at home (r = 0.248, p = 0.040) and making vegetables available at home (r = 0.310, p = 0.010). Children’s perceptions of the frequency of fathers’ role modeling vegetable intake were significantly correlated with children’s vegetable intake and fruit and vegetable intake combined (r = 0.410, p = 0.001, r = 282, p = 0.019, respectively). Children’s perceptions of the frequency of fathers’ making vegetables available at home were positively correlated with children’s vegetable intake and children’s fruit and vegetable intake combined (r = 0.436, p=0.001; r= 0.348, p = 0.003, respectively). Fathers making fruit available at home based on children’s perceptions were significantly associated with intake of fruits by children (r = 0.250, p = 0.039) and with children’s intake of fruits and vegetables combined (r = 0.287, p = 0.017). A correlation was also observed between children’s skin carotenoid scores and their perceptions of the frequency of participation in family meals (r = 0.280, p = 0.029). The results based on child-reported fruit and vegetable intake frequency indicated that the null hypothesis should be rejected because children’s perceptions of the frequency of fathers’ fruit and vegetable parenting practices were positively associated with child fruit and vegetable intake. However, the null hypothesis should not be rejected if children’s fruit and vegetable intakes were based on skin carotenoid scores. Given the discrepancy in findings based on the measures used to estimate fruit and vegetable intake, additional studies are needed to clarify the relationships between intake and parenting practices.