Parental Restriction and Their Children’s Food Choices and Intake

Abstract

Parents use a range of food-related parenting behaviors. These occur within the context of their general parenting styles. The focus of this chapter is on general and food-related parenting behaviors and their relations to children and adolescents’ food intake. Specific attention is paid to parental control and restriction. Studies on the association between general parenting style (control and support) and food intake show inconclusive results. Parental support and an authoritative parenting style (high support combined with high control) were related to healthier eating patterns in some but not all studies. Evidence on whether general parental control is beneficial for food intake is also inconclusive. The interpretation of results is further complicated as a number of studies addressed parenting styles that combine both parental control and support. There is some evidence for unintended negative effects of firm parental restriction on the intake of (specific) foods. Also, there is some evidence for the benefits of an authoritative feeding style in which parents set rules and are not permissive but also respect children’s choices and preferences. Restriction has been related to higher intake of unhealthy foods (forbidden fruit effect), to healthier eating patterns, and also null effects have been found. Overall more research is needed in order to be able to give well-founded advice to parents, and future studies should make clear distinctions between types of control used. Research on food-related parenting practices is complicated by the fact that different questionnaires probably measure different types of control. In addition, commonly used questionnaires have not been validated for actual behavior. Observational studies therefore provide alternative research methods. These studies provide tentative proof that some degree of parental control and involvement is obligatory in order for children to make healthy food choices.