Peer-reviewed article
Associations between parenting styles, feeding practices, and nutritional status in children aged 5-14 years admitted to a tertiary centre in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka.
Manoji Gitanjali Sathiadas, Kinthuja Nagaraja, Yadhury Senthan, Vijitha Manitheepan ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how parenting styles and feeding practices relate to nutritional status in 431 children aged 5-14 years admitted to a hospital in Sri Lanka. The majority of parents used an authoritative parenting style, which showed a weak positive association with better child nutrition. Children's nutritional status varied widely, with 57.5% at normal weight, but 18.5% underweight, 13.7% overweight, 10.2% obese, and 15.8% stunted. The research suggests that positive parenting approaches and healthy feeding practices may support better growth outcomes in children.
Key points
- 87.9% of parents in the study practiced authoritative parenting
- Authoritative parenting showed significant positive correlation with child feeding factors (perceived responsibility, concern about weight, pressure to eat, monitoring)
- Authoritative parenting showed weak positive association with child nutritional status (r = 0.103, p < 0.05)
- Malnutrition in multiple forms was prevalent: 18.5% underweight, 10.2% obese, 15.8% stunted
- The study recommends promoting positive parenting and educating caregivers on healthy feeding behaviors
Limitations
This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study, so causality cannot be established and results may not represent the general population. The weak association found between parenting style and nutritional outcomes suggests that other factors beyond parenting also significantly influence child nutrition.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Nutrition-related health problems among children are on the rise worldwide; the majority of them can be prevented. We believe that parents play a key role in determining children's nutritional status through their feeding practices. This study aimed to determine the role of parenting styles, feeding practices, and their relationship to the nutritional status of the children (5-14 years). METHODS: A hospital-based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in all Paediatric wards, Teaching Hospital, Jaffna, among 431 children aged 5-14 years admitted for minor ailments and their parents. Data was collected using two self-administered questionnaires: the Parenting Style Questionnaire and the Child Feeding Questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements were done using standard protocols. Ethical approval was obtained from the University of Jaffna Ethical Review Committee (Ref: J/ERC/24/161/NDR/0324). Anthropometric measurements were taken, and the WHO Anthro Plus Survey Analyzer was used to determine the nutritional status. Data was analyzed using SPSS 25.0, and path analysis was conducted using SPSS AMOS 26.0. RESULTS: Among 431 participants, the mean age was 8.86 ± 2.65 years, and 53.8% were males and 46.2% were females. The majority of parents (87.9%) practiced authoritative parenting. The structural equation model showed χ² (180) = 308.6, p < 0.001; Comparative Fit Index > 0.95 (good fit); Tucker-Lewis Index > 0.9 (acceptable fit); Root Mean Square of Approximation < 0.05 (good fit). Authoritative parenting showed a significant positive correlation (p < 0.001) with Child feeding factors, including perceived responsibility, concern about child weight, pressure to eat, and monitoring. It showed a weak positive association with child nutritional status (r = 0.103, p < 0.05). The children were categorized into five groups: normal, underweight, overweight, obese, and stunted, with percentages of 57.5%, 18.5%, 13.7%, 10.2%, and 15.8%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Authoritative parenting is weakly associated with nutritional outcomes in children. Appropriate feeding practices also show a positive association with growth and development. These findings suggest the potential value of promoting positive parenting and educating caregivers on healthy feeding behaviors.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Authoritative parenting style and associated feeding practices (perceived responsibility, concern about child weight, pressure to eat, and monitoring)
- Population
- 431 children aged 5-14 years admitted to Teaching Hospital Jaffna for minor ailments and their parents
Key finding
Authoritative parenting showed significant positive correlation with child feeding factors (p < 0.001)