Blake Christine E, Fisher Jennifer Orlet, Ganter Claudia, Younginer Nicholas, Orloski Alexandria, Blaine Rachel E, Bruton Yasmeen, Davison Kirsten K
Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, University of South Carolina, 915 Greene Street, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, United States.
Department of Public Health, Center for Obesity Research and Education, Temple University, 3223 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19140, United States.
Appetite. 2015 May;88:17-23. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2014.11.005. Epub 2014 Nov 13.
Increases in childhood obesity correspond with shifts in children's snacking behaviors and food portion sizes. This study examined parents' conceptualizations of portion size and the strategies they use to portion snacks in the context of preschool-aged children's snacking.
Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with non-Hispanic white (W), African American (AA), and Hispanic (H) low-income parents (n = 60) of preschool-aged children living in Philadelphia and Boston. The interview examined parents' child snacking definitions, purposes, contexts, and frequency. Verbatim transcripts were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Coding matrices compared responses by race/ethnicity, parent education, and household food security status.
Parents' commonly referenced portion sizes when describing children's snacks with phrases like "something small." Snack portion sizes were guided by considerations including healthfulness, location, hunger, and timing. Six strategies for portioning snacks were presented including use of small containers, subdividing large portions, buying prepackaged snacks, use of hand measurement, measuring cups, scales, and letting children determine portion size. Differences in considerations and strategies were seen between race/ethnic groups and by household food security status.
Low-income parents of preschool-aged children described a diverse set of considerations and strategies related to portion sizes of snack foods offered to their children. Future studies should examine how these considerations and strategies influence child dietary quality.
儿童肥胖率的上升与儿童零食行为和食物份量的变化相对应。本研究考察了父母对份量大小的概念理解，以及他们在学龄前儿童吃零食的背景下给零食分份所采用的策略。
对居住在费城和波士顿的学龄前儿童的非西班牙裔白人（W）、非裔美国人（AA）和西班牙裔（H）低收入父母（n = 60）进行了半结构化定性访谈。访谈考察了父母对孩子吃零食的定义、目的、背景和频率。使用扎根理论方法对逐字记录的访谈内容进行分析。编码矩阵按种族/民族、父母教育程度和家庭食品安全状况对回答进行了比较。
父母在描述孩子的零食时，常用“小份的东西”等短语来提及份量大小。零食份量大小受健康、地点、饥饿和时间等因素的影响。提出了六种给零食分份的策略，包括使用小容器、将大份食物细分、购买预包装零食、用手测量、使用量杯、秤以及让孩子自己确定份量大小。不同种族/民族群体之间以及家庭食品安全状况不同的情况下，在考虑因素和策略上存在差异。
学龄前儿童的低收入父母描述了一系列与给孩子提供的零食份量大小相关的考虑因素和策略。未来的研究应考察这些考虑因素和策略如何影响儿童的饮食质量。
