[Status of parents' feeding behavior and influencing factors in 3-5 years old children in 5 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) of China in 2018].

OBJECTIVE

To understand the status of preschool children's feeding behavior, to analyse the feeding behavior of parents and its main influencing factors of children aged 3-5 years old.

METHODS

From August to December 2018, 10 kindergartens in Liaoning Province, Shanghai City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Guangdong Province and Sichuan Province were selected by means of convenient sampling. A survey of 1057 preschool children's caregivers was conducted using the caregiver feeding style questionnaire. Chi-square test and binary Logistic regression were used to analyze the demographic characteristics of families with different feeding behaviors.

RESULTS

It was found that among the four feeding style, the authoritative type accounted for only 10. 3%, and the authoritarian type accounted for 36. 1%, followed by the indulgent type(35. 8%) and the uninvolved type(17. 8%). Parents of 5-year-old were more likely to adopt indulgent type(OR=2. 60, 95%CI 1. 60-4. 22);fathers with a college degree or above were more likely to adopt authoritarian type(OR=2. 77, 95%CI 1. 39-5. 52) and indulgent type(OR=3. 79, 95%CI 1. 86-7. 72); mothers as primary caregivers were more likely to adopt authoritarian feeding method(OR=2. 48, 95%CI 1. 06-5. 83) and grandparents as primary caregivers were more likely to adopt indulgent feeding method(OR=3. 49, 95%CI 1. 54-7. 91).

CONCLUSION

The proportion of children aged 3-5 whose parents adopt authoritarian, indulgent feeding method is higher. Among them, mothers are more likely to adopt authoritarian feeding behaviors, grandparents are more likely to adopt permissive feeding behaviors, and fathers with higher education are more likely to adopt authoritarian and permissive feeding behaviors.