A Review of Family and Social Determinants of Children’s Eating Patterns and Diet Quality

Abstract

With the growing problem of childhood obesity, recent research has begun to focus on family and social influences on children’s eating patterns. Research has demonstrated that children’s eating patterns are strongly influenced by characteristics of both the physical and social environment. With regard to the physical environment, children are more likely to eat foods that are available and easily accessible, and they tend to eat greater quantities when larger portions are provided. Additionally, characteristics of the social environment, including various socioeconomic and sociocultural factors such as parents’ education, time constraints, and ethnicity influence the types of foods children eat. Mealtime structure is also an important factor related to children’s eating patterns. Mealtime structure includes social and physical characteristics of mealtimes including whether families eat together, TV-viewing during meals, and the source of foods (e.g., restaurants, schools). Parents also play a direct role in children’s eating patterns through their behaviors, attitudes, and feeding styles. Interventions aimed at improving children’s nutrition need to address the variety of social and physical factors that influence children’s eating patterns.

• children’s eating patterns
• children’s dietary quality
• determinants of children’s eating patterns
• review

Key teaching points:

• Importance of the physical and social environment in children’s eating patterns.

• Physical environment includes food availability, accessibility, and portion size.

• Social environment includes socioeconomic and sociocultural factors and mealtime structure.

• Parents’ behaviors, attitudes, and feeding styles also contribute to the social environment.

• Nutrition interventions should address a variety of characteristics that influence children’s eating.

Key teaching points:

• Importance of the physical and social environment in children’s eating patterns.

• Physical environment includes food availability, accessibility, and portion size.

• Social environment includes socioeconomic and sociocultural factors and mealtime structure.

• Parents’ behaviors, attitudes, and feeding styles also contribute to the social environment.

• Nutrition interventions should address a variety of characteristics that influence children’s eating.

The authors wish to thank the Behavioral Nutrition Group at the Children’s Nutrition Research Center for their assistance in the preparation of this manuscript. Debby Demory-Luce, Sheryl Hughes, Sandra Jaramillo, Nilda Micheli, Miriam Morales, and Rajeshwari Ranganathan provided helpful comments on previous versions of the manuscript. Pamelia Harris provided valuable assistance in collecting references. Partial support for this project was received from the National Dairy Council.

Notes

This work is a publication of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA/ARS) Children’s Nutrition Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the USDA, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement from the U.S. Government. Partial support was received from the National Dairy Council.

Presented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the American College of Nutrition, Nashville, TN, October 9–12, 2003.