RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The family environment is influential for a child's healthy development through parent and sibling influences on feeding practices. Multiple-child households may protect against unhealthy feeding practices, but additional children contribute to higher maternal stress. Households of married parents may decrease maternal stress by sharing parental demands. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the collective influence of maternal stress, marital status, and number of children on feeding practices. METHODS: Mothers of 2- to 5-y-old children (n = 278) were recruited mainly on a university campus and completed an online survey to examine associations between maternal stress (Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale), number of children, marital status, and feeding practices (restriction and pressure to eat; Child Feeding Questionnaire). Relationships were examined through the use of multivariate regression and structural equation modelling. RESULTS: A mainly married (85%) and Caucasian (73%) sample participated, with most mothers reporting multiple children [2 children (45%) or ≥3 children (24%)]. Marital status was not associated with either feeding practice, i.e., restriction and pressure to eat (P < 0.05). In adjusted models, maternal stress (ß = 0.04, SE = 0.01, P = 0.003) and number of children (ß = 0.24, SE = 0.08, P = 0.003) in the household individually contributed to higher feeding restriction; their interaction resulted in lower feeding restriction (ß = -0.01, SE = 0.05, P = 0.005). In stratified models, maternal stress was associated with restriction in single-child households (ß = -0.03, SE = 0.009, P = 0.002), but not multiple-child households (ß = -0.004, SE = 0.005, P = 0.40). CONCLUSIONS: Number of children had no effect on feeding practices individually, but may contribute to a less restrictive feeding environment. Additional investigation into creating less stressful and more positive feeding environments for all mothers can lead to healthier mothers and families.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this laboratory experiment was to demonstrate how taking a longitudinal, multilevel approach can be used to examine the dynamic relationship between subjective workload and performance over a given period of activity involving shifts in task demand. BACKGROUND: Subjective workload and conditions of the performance environment are oftentimes examined via cross-sectional designs without distinguishing within-from between-person effects. Given the dynamic nature of performance phenomena, multilevel designs coupled with manipulations of task demand shifts are needed to better model the dynamic relationships between state and trait components of subjective workload and performance. METHOD: With a sample of 75 college students and a computer game representing a complex decision-making environment, increases and decreases in task demand were counterbalanced and subjective workload and performance were measured concurrently in regular intervals within performance episodes. Data were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling. RESULTS: Both between- and especially within-person effects were dynamic. Nevertheless, at both levels of analysis, higher subjective workload reflected performance problems, especially more downstream from increases in task demand. CONCLUSION: As a function of cognitive-energetic processes, shifts in task demand are associated with changes in how subjective workload is related to performance over a given period of activity. Multilevel, longitudinal approaches are useful for distinguishing and examining the dynamic relationships between state and trait components of subjective workload and performance. APPLICATION: The findings of this research help to improve the understanding of how a sequence of demands can exceed a performer's capability to respond to further demands.