Family Resiliency Center, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 904 West Nevada Street, MC-081, Urbana, IL, 61801, United States; Office of Extension & Outreach, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States.
Family Resiliency Center, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 904 West Nevada Street, MC-081, Urbana, IL, 61801, United States.
Appetite. 2018 Jul 1;126:195-200. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2018.03.021. Epub 2018 Mar 27.
Children in the United States fall far short of meeting federal dietary recommendations. The unhealthy diets common amongst young children are of crucial public health concern, given that they can inhibit healthy development and are predictive of chronic diseases in adulthood. Research investigating behaviors that are related to dietary habits is crucial to allow a better understanding of the causes of unhealthy dietary practices. Involvement in food preparation is known to be associated with healthy dietary behaviors in school-aged children, but little is known about these behaviors and their correlates in younger children. The present study sought to examine the influences and correlates of involvement in family food preparation in children at ages three and four. Parents of preschool aged children (n = 497) completed surveys including information about demographic background, their children's family food involvement, dietary intake, mealtime routines, and problematic eating behaviors. Data were collected when children were three (wave one of the survey) and four years of age (wave two). Findings from this study indicate that family food involvement at age three is predictive of healthier dietary intake at age four (increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, decreased consumption of fast food). These findings indicate that family food involvement is predictive of healthier dietary behaviors in young children, and that outreach efforts focused on family food involvement in early childhood may improve children's dietary habits.
美国儿童远远未能达到联邦饮食建议的要求。幼儿中常见的不健康饮食对公共健康至关重要，因为它们会阻碍健康发育，并预示着成年后的慢性疾病。研究与饮食行为相关的行为对于更好地了解不健康饮食行为的原因至关重要。众所周知，参与食物准备与学龄儿童的健康饮食行为有关，但对于这些行为及其在年幼儿童中的相关性知之甚少。本研究旨在探讨 3 至 4 岁儿童参与家庭食物准备的影响因素及其相关性。幼儿园儿童的家长（n=497）完成了调查，其中包括有关人口背景、孩子的家庭食物参与、饮食摄入、用餐常规和不良进食行为的信息。数据是在孩子三岁（调查的第一波）和四岁（调查的第二波）时收集的。本研究的结果表明，三岁时的家庭食物参与度可以预测四岁时更健康的饮食摄入（增加水果和蔬菜的摄入量，减少快餐的摄入量）。这些发现表明，家庭食物参与度可以预测幼儿更健康的饮食行为，而专注于幼儿期家庭食物参与度的推广工作可能会改善儿童的饮食习惯。
