Better maternal diet and a covert style of control over children’s

eating habits improve the quality of young children’s diets

Megan Jarman MSc, APHNutrMRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit

mj@mrc.soton.ac.uk

Maternal and child diet

Mother’s quality of diet

Young child’s quality of diet

What other factors are associated with children’s diet quality?

Control over children’s eating habits• Covert control methods cannot be detected by the child• Overt control methods can be detected by the child

Previous findings:

• Mother reports more covert control = child eats fewer ‘unhealthy’ snacks

• More covert and overt control = child consumes more fruit and vegetables

Brown, K et al (2008) Appetite 50:252-259

Covert and Overt Control Scale*

– E.g. participants are asked how often….Covert:• “…do you avoid buying sweets and crisps and bringing them

into the house?”• “…do you try not to eat unhealthy foods when your child is

around?”

Overt:• “…are you firm about what your child should eat?”• “…do you encourage your child to eat more if you feel they

haven’t had enough that day or mealtime?”

*Ogden et al, (2006) Appetite 47: 100-106

•10-item scale; 5 reflecting covert and 5 reflecting overt styles of control

Cross-sectional Survey

•Women who take part in the Southampton Initiative for Health and have a child aged 2-4 years

• Questionnaire administered over the telephone

•Measures include:• 25-item Food Frequency Questionnaire• Covert and overt control scale• Demographics

Photos © Magda Segal (2000)

Children’s CharacteristicsN = 348

Children characteristics

Age (mean (SD)) 3 (1)

Gender: N %

Girls 171 49

Number of siblings

0 66 19

1 195 56

2 54 16

3+ 32 9

Maternal characteristicsAge (mean (SD)) 32 (5)

Educational level : N %

Low ≤ GCSE 134 39

High >GCSE 214 61

Mother and child’s diet quality-1

.5-1

-.50

.51

1.5

Chi

ld's

mea

n di

et s

core

(SD

)

1 2 3 4 5Levels of maternal diet score

Child’s diet quality (z-score) by control style and maternal diet quality

Coefficients 95% Confidence Intervals

P-value

Covert control (z-score) 0.25 0.15, 0.35 <0.001

Overt control (z-score) 0.04 -0.05, 0.13 0.43

Coefficients 95% Confidence Intervals

P-value

Covert control (z-score) 0.18 0.08, 0.27 <0.001

Maternal diet score (z-score)

0.45 0.35, 0.56 <0.001

Adjusted for maternal factors and child characteristics

-1-.5

0.5

1C

hild

's d

iet s

core

(SD

)

Low Intermediate High

Maternal diet quality score (thirds)

1st 2nd 3rdCovert control (thirds)

Child’s diet quality by control style and maternal diet quality

Conclusions and Future Work

• Maternal quality of diet and use of covert control over her children’s eating habits have independent effects on the quality of her child’s diet

• Interventions designed to improve the quality of young children’s diets could consider the style of control that the mother uses over her child’s eating habits

• Follow-up survey post-intervention and qualitative work

AcknowledgementsThank you: • To the women who took part in our survey.

• To my colleagues in the Southampton Initiative for Health Study Group

• Those who support our work:

Louis Bonduelle Foundation