It's who I am and what we eat. Mothers' food-related identities in family food choice.

This study aimed to understand mothers' everyday food choices using one type of visual method-participant-driven photo-elicitation (PDPE). The sample consisted of 12 low/moderate income mothers (26-53 years) living in Bryan/College Station, Texas. Each mother completed a photography activity, where she created photographs of her food experience, and an in-depth interview using the mother's photographs. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a grounded theory approach and coded using qualitative data analysis software ATLAS.ti. Mothers emphasized their identities related to food and eating as they described food-related decisions and activities. These identities influenced a mother's food choices for herself and those she made for her children. Analysis revealed that mothers with a more defined health identity made healthier choices for themselves and similar food choices for their children. In addition, they exhibited behaviors that positively influenced their children's food choices. Mothers who struggled to see themselves as healthy indulged with more junk food and indicated feelings of anxiety and guilt; these mothers' food choices were more disconnected from their children's. These findings underscore the importance of understanding how identities related to food and eating can influence food choices. Encouraging mothers to develop and maintain health identities may be one way to improve food and eating habits in families.

Mothers and meals. The effects of mothers' meal planning and shopping motivations on children's participation in family meals.

Participation in family meals has been associated with benefits for health and social development of children. The objective of the study was to identify the impact of mothers' work of caring through planning regularly scheduled meals, shopping and cooking, on children's participation in family meals. Parents of children aged 9-11 or 13-15 years from 300 Houston families were surveyed about parents' work, meal planning for and scheduling of meals, motivations for food purchases, importance of family meals, and children's frequency of eating dinner with their families. The children were interviewed about the importance of eating family meals. Hypotheses were tested using path analysis to calculate indirect and total effects of variables on the outcome variable of frequency of children eating dinner with their family. Mothers' belief in the importance of family meals increased likelihood of children eating dinner with families by increasing likelihood that mothers planned dinner and that dinners were regularly scheduled. Mothers' perception of time pressures on meal preparation had a negative, indirect effect on the frequency of children's participation in family dinners by reducing mothers' meal planning.

Perceived parenting behaviours predict young adolescents' nutritional intake and body fatness.

This study investigated whether perceptions of parenting behaviours predict young adolescents' nutritional intake and body fatness. The randomly selected study sample consisted of 106 13-15 years olds from Houston Metropolitan Statistical Area. Parenting style variables were created by cluster analysis and factor analysis. A two-cluster solution for both maternal and paternal parenting style represented authoritative vs. non-authoritative parenting. Two parenting dimension factors derived were maternal/paternal nurturing and control. For adolescents' energy and nutrient intake, greater maternal nurturing appeared to be most beneficial given its association with lower consumption of total kilocalorie and lower saturated fat intake. Paternal nurturing was associated with lower sodium intake, whereas paternal control predicted lower percentage of kilocalories from carbohydrate and percentage Dietary Reference Intake for dietary fibre, and greater percentage of kilocalories from total fat. Maternal authoritative parenting and lower maternal control over their adolescents may have protective effects against having heavier and fatter adolescents given their associations with adolescents' body weight, sub-scapular skinfold, waist circumference, body mass index, and the tendencies of being at risk of overweight and being overweight. None of paternal parenting styles or dimensions appeared to be significantly related to adolescents' body fatness.

Determinants of children's use of and time spent in fast-food and full-service restaurants.

OBJECTIVE: Identify parental and children's determinants of children's use of and time spent in fast-food (FF) and full-service (FS) restaurants. DESIGN: Analysis of cross-sectional data. SETTING: Parents were interviewed by phone; children were interviewed in their homes. PARTICIPANTS: Parents and children ages 9-11 or 13-15 from 312 families were obtained via random-digit dialing. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Dependent variables were the use of and the time spent in FF and FS restaurants by children. Determinants included parental work schedules, parenting style, and family meal ritual perceptions. ANALYSIS: Logistic regression was used for multivariate analysis of use of restaurants. Least squares regression was used for multivariate analysis of time spent in restaurants. Significance set at P < .05. RESULTS: Factors related to use of and time spent in FF and FS restaurants included parental work schedules, fathers' use of such restaurants, and children's time spent in the family automobile. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Parenting style, parental work, parental eating habits and perceptions of family meals, and children's other uses of their time influence children's use of and time spent in FF and FS restaurants.