1. Characteristic (N = 1658) Parent: MN age 28.9 ± 7.0 MN BMI 27.1 ± 6.2 % Parent Gender Male Female 1.6 98.4 Parent Race White African American Other 81.1 17.6 1.3 Parent Education Level High School or Less High School Graduate Some College or Technical School College Graduate or More 16.2 38.1 24.8 20.8 Household Income <$15,000 $15,000 - $24,999 $24,999 - $49,999 >$50,000 18.3 23.6 30.5 27.5 Characteristics of Non-Coercive Parents and Coercive Parents Logistic Regression Significance Demographics Younger parents are more likely to use coercive feeding strategies. More educated parents are less likely to use coercive feeding strategies. Non-coercive parents are more likely to be married. Coercive parents are more likely to have a lower income than non-coercive parents. p<.001 p=.042 p<.001 BMI Coercive parents are more likely to have a lower BMI than non-coercive parents. p=.035 The Short and Long-term Impact of Coercive Feeding Strategies on Children Holly Bante, B.A., Amanda Harrod, M.P.H., Michael Elliott, Ph.D., Debra Haire-Joshu, Ph.D. Background Prevalence of obesity among children is high and increasing. Parental feeding practices may promote overweight in children and adversely affect a child’s ability to develop food preferences. “Clean your plate”, One-Bite rule, and reward systems may undermine the child’s ability to self-regulate food intake, altering the natural response to internal satiety cues. Fruit and vegetable preferences have been shown to be significant predictors of fruit and vegetable intake. Application Child-feeding practices impact food preferences and intake. Interventions need to address the factors that determine food preferences during early development to increase lifelong consumption. Efforts should be made to: 1. Identify aspects of the family environment that may lead to obesigenic patterns. 2. Identify the link between coercive feeding strategies and childhood overweight and obesity. Specific Aim The High 5 for Kids is a community based program designed to intervene with parents to promote their preschool children’s (age 3-5) preference for and intake of fruits and vegetables. Demographics Acknowledgments This project was funded by the National Cancer Institute. This work was completed in collaboration with educators and families from Parents as Teachers. Results Short-term: Children of coercive parents consumed higher amounts of fruits and vegetables than children of non-coercive parents. Long-term: FV preferences were similar between children of both coercive and non-coercive parents. Although parents who used coercive strategies were successful in increasing consumption of FV in the short-term, once those children leave that environment, long-term intake of FV may decrease as preferences for FV did not change. *Significant only for children whose parents reported frequently using rewards to encourage them to try new foods CharacteristicsNon-Coercive ParentsCoercive ParentsT-Test Significance Modeling Children of non-coercive parents are more likely to observe parental modeling of FV intake. MN=6.28 times/wk Children of coercive parents are less likely to observe parental modeling of FV intake. MN=5.80 times/wk p=.021 FV Consumption* Children of non-coercive parents are less likely to eat more FV. MN=4.78 servings/day Children of coercive parents are more likely to eat more FV. MN=5.02 servings/day p=.042 Awareness Parents are more likely to worry that their child is overweight. Parents are less likely to worry that their child is overweight. p<.001 Preference for FV Children of coercive parents had a decreased preference for fruits and vegetables than children of non-coercive parents. Fruits p=.016 Vegetables p<.001