Associations between general parenting, restrictive snacking rules, and adolescent's snack intake. The roles of fathers and mothers and interparental congruence.

INTRODUCTION

Little research has been done on the role of fathers and parenting congruence between mothers and fathers. This study aimed to clarify the roles of general parenting and restrictive snacking rules set by fathers and mothers, and to explore parenting congruence in explaining adolescents' snack intake.

METHODS

Adolescents aged 11 to 15 completed a questionnaire assessing their perception of general parenting constructs (i.e. nurturance, structure, behavioral control, coercive control, and overprotection), restrictive snacking rules set by their fathers and mothers, and their own energy-dense snack intakes between meals.

RESULTS

Scores for mothers were significantly higher on all constructs than for fathers, except for coercive control. Generally, higher scores on general parenting constructs were associated with higher scores on restrictive snacking rules (most of the associations being significant). Most general parenting constructs were unrelated to the respondents' number of snacks consumed. The use of restrictive snacking rules by both fathers and mothers was significantly and negatively related to respondents' snack intake. Moderation analyses indicated that high levels of incongruence between parents attenuated the favorable impact of fathers' rules and nurturance on their children's snacking, but interactions of congruence with three other paternal scales and all maternal scales were absent.

DISCUSSION

Our findings indicate that both paternal and maternal general parenting and restrictive snacking rules play important roles in adolescents' snacking, and that high parental incongruence regarding restrictive snacking rules and nurturance could be undesirable.