Parental communication and children's food choices : understanding the theoretical processes and conditions of effect

Parents play important roles in helping children develop healthier eating habits. Despite this, research on parenting in the area of child food consumption have often neglected the study of the communicative actions of parents, and the processes and emotional conditions in which they influence the f...

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Main Author: Yee, Andrew Zi Han
Other Authors: May Oo Lwin
Format: Theses and Dissertations
Language:English
Published: 2019
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/105519
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/47834
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
id sg-ntu-dr.10356-105519
record_format dspace
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic DRNTU::Social sciences::Communication
spellingShingle DRNTU::Social sciences::Communication
Yee, Andrew Zi Han
Parental communication and children's food choices : understanding the theoretical processes and conditions of effect
description Parents play important roles in helping children develop healthier eating habits. Despite this, research on parenting in the area of child food consumption have often neglected the study of the communicative actions of parents, and the processes and emotional conditions in which they influence the food preferences of children and adolescents. This collection of four studies aims to disentangle the complexities surrounding parental communication and its effects on child food consumption in the contexts of fruits, vegetables, and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (SSB). Study One – a systematic review and meta-analysis – provided a comprehensive understanding of the state of research about the role that parents play in shaping children’s food consumption. The study found that parents play the roles of gatekeepers, role models, and health communicators, when it comes to children’s food consumption. Most importantly, the study identified two main research gaps; one, that there are multiple imprecise and overlapping parental communication concepts, and two, that there is a lack of research in understanding the processes and conditions in which parental communication affects child food consumption. Studies Two and Three aimed to fill these research gaps. Specifically, Study Two (n = 246), a scale development study, found that the perceived communicative actions of parents can be delineated into four different strategies – active guidance, general discussion, preventive restrictive guidance, and promotive restrictive guidance. A confirmatory factor analysis with a nationally representative sample 1,113 of children and adolescents found that this four-factor structure was robust. The study demonstrated that active communication about food often reflect an evaluative slant, and that rule-based communication about food can be highly context-dependent. Next, Study Three (A) tested a behavior change model integrating the aforementioned parental communication strategies with the theory of planned behavior in the context of fruits, vegetables, and SSB consumption. Active guidance was found to be a related to attitude, perceived norms, and perceived behavioral control towards consuming fruits and vegetables. Promotive restrictive guidance was positively related to attitude and perceived norms towards consuming fruits and vegetables. Additionally, it was also positively associated with perceived behavioral control towards consuming vegetables. Meanwhile, active guidance was negatively correlated with attitude towards consuming SSB. Preventive restrictive guidance was negatively correlated with attitude, perceived norms, and perceived behavioral control towards consuming SSB. The study demonstrated that active guidance is more effective in promotive contexts, while rule-based communication needs to be directed towards a specific behavioral context to be effective. Finally, Study Three (B) examined the contextual model of parenting style, and found that authoritative parenting moderated the effects of parental active, promotive restrictive, and preventive restrictive guidance on all three proximal predictors of behavior. The study demonstrated that the perceived emotional climate between parents and children can greatly affect the efficacy of communication strategies to encourage a healthier diet. Overall, this thesis has substantially contributed to the literature on parenting practices and child food consumption, and elucidated the processes and conditions in which parental communication can influence changes in children’s food consumption.
author2 May Oo Lwin
author_facet May Oo Lwin
Yee, Andrew Zi Han
format Theses and Dissertations
author Yee, Andrew Zi Han
author_sort Yee, Andrew Zi Han
title Parental communication and children's food choices : understanding the theoretical processes and conditions of effect
title_short Parental communication and children's food choices : understanding the theoretical processes and conditions of effect
title_full Parental communication and children's food choices : understanding the theoretical processes and conditions of effect
title_fullStr Parental communication and children's food choices : understanding the theoretical processes and conditions of effect
title_full_unstemmed Parental communication and children's food choices : understanding the theoretical processes and conditions of effect
title_sort parental communication and children's food choices : understanding the theoretical processes and conditions of effect
publishDate 2019
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/105519
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/47834
_version_ 1681058593987624960
spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1055192020-06-25T03:37:26Z Parental communication and children's food choices : understanding the theoretical processes and conditions of effect Yee, Andrew Zi Han May Oo Lwin Shirley Ho Soo Yee Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information DRNTU::Social sciences::Communication Parents play important roles in helping children develop healthier eating habits. Despite this, research on parenting in the area of child food consumption have often neglected the study of the communicative actions of parents, and the processes and emotional conditions in which they influence the food preferences of children and adolescents. This collection of four studies aims to disentangle the complexities surrounding parental communication and its effects on child food consumption in the contexts of fruits, vegetables, and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (SSB). Study One – a systematic review and meta-analysis – provided a comprehensive understanding of the state of research about the role that parents play in shaping children’s food consumption. The study found that parents play the roles of gatekeepers, role models, and health communicators, when it comes to children’s food consumption. Most importantly, the study identified two main research gaps; one, that there are multiple imprecise and overlapping parental communication concepts, and two, that there is a lack of research in understanding the processes and conditions in which parental communication affects child food consumption. Studies Two and Three aimed to fill these research gaps. Specifically, Study Two (n = 246), a scale development study, found that the perceived communicative actions of parents can be delineated into four different strategies – active guidance, general discussion, preventive restrictive guidance, and promotive restrictive guidance. A confirmatory factor analysis with a nationally representative sample 1,113 of children and adolescents found that this four-factor structure was robust. The study demonstrated that active communication about food often reflect an evaluative slant, and that rule-based communication about food can be highly context-dependent. Next, Study Three (A) tested a behavior change model integrating the aforementioned parental communication strategies with the theory of planned behavior in the context of fruits, vegetables, and SSB consumption. Active guidance was found to be a related to attitude, perceived norms, and perceived behavioral control towards consuming fruits and vegetables. Promotive restrictive guidance was positively related to attitude and perceived norms towards consuming fruits and vegetables. Additionally, it was also positively associated with perceived behavioral control towards consuming vegetables. Meanwhile, active guidance was negatively correlated with attitude towards consuming SSB. Preventive restrictive guidance was negatively correlated with attitude, perceived norms, and perceived behavioral control towards consuming SSB. The study demonstrated that active guidance is more effective in promotive contexts, while rule-based communication needs to be directed towards a specific behavioral context to be effective. Finally, Study Three (B) examined the contextual model of parenting style, and found that authoritative parenting moderated the effects of parental active, promotive restrictive, and preventive restrictive guidance on all three proximal predictors of behavior. The study demonstrated that the perceived emotional climate between parents and children can greatly affect the efficacy of communication strategies to encourage a healthier diet. Overall, this thesis has substantially contributed to the literature on parenting practices and child food consumption, and elucidated the processes and conditions in which parental communication can influence changes in children’s food consumption. Doctor of Philosophy 2019-03-16T15:04:04Z 2019-12-06T21:52:55Z 2019-03-16T15:04:04Z 2019-12-06T21:52:55Z 2019 Thesis Yee, A. Z. H. (2019). Parental communication and children's food choices : understanding the theoretical processes and conditions of effect. Doctoral thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/105519 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/47834 10.32657/10220/47834 en 238 p. application/pdf