Elsevier

Appetite

Volume 52, Issue 2, April 2009, Pages 307-312
Appetite

Research report
Sibling eating behaviours and differential child feeding practices reported by parents

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2008.10.009Get rights and content

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the intra-familial relationships between parental reports of feeding practices used with siblings in the same family, and to evaluate whether differences in feeding practices are related to differences in siblings’ eating behaviours. Eighty parents of two sibling children completed measures assessing their feeding practices and child eating behaviours. Parents reported using greater restrictive feeding practices with children who were fussier and desired to drink more than their sibling. Parents reported using more pressure to eat with siblings who were slower to eat, were fussier, emotionally under-ate, enjoyed food less, were less responsive to food, and were more responsive to internal satiety cues. Restriction and pressure to eat appear to be part of the non-shared environment which sibling children experience differently. These feeding practices may be used differently for children in the same family in response to child eating behaviours or other specific characteristics.

Section snippets

Participants

In total 80 parents of at least two sibling children (N = 160) took part in this study. A screening question in the questionnaire asked parents ‘Have either of your children ever been hospitalised, if so please give details’. Data sets were excluded where parents answered yes to this question and reported the reason for hospitalisation to be food or eating related (e.g., Celiac Disease). Participation was not restricted according to parent or child weight.

Procedure

Five hundred questionnaires were

Descriptive statistics

The mean age of the participants was 35 years (SD = 4.95, range 22–49 years), 74 parents described themselves as White and 6 as non-White (2 Asian, 2 Indian, 1 Chinese, 1 other non-specified). The mean number of years that participants had spent in education after age 16 was 3.25 years (SD = 2.87). Using the Standard Occupation Classification (Office of National Statistics, 2000), 78 parents reported their occupation or previous occupation prior to motherhood and 2 mothers reported that they had

Discussion

The aims of this study were to establish whether there are significant intra-familial correlations for the feeding practices that parents report using with siblings in the same family, and to assess whether differences in parentally reported feeding practices are related to differences in sibling feeding problems. With the exception of perceived child overweight, there were significant intraclass correlations for all parental feeding practices and concerns measured using the Child Feeding

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