Matthews Zoe, Pigden-Bennett Donna, Tavassoli Teresa, Snuggs Sarah
University of Reading, UK.
Autism. 2025 Feb;29(2):518-535. doi: 10.1177/13623613241277605. Epub 2024 Sep 12.
Children with neurodevelopmental conditions like autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may experience eating difficulties and related health issues later in life. Sharing family meals can help prevent these issues developing, but most studies have looked at families with neurotypical children. Our goal was to learn more about how families of children with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and both conditions (autism + attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) experience mealtimes. We developed an online survey asking caregivers about their child's eating, mealtime experience and if they experienced stress. We tested it with nine caregivers and made improvements based on their feedback before recruiting 351 caregivers to complete the main survey. We found that families of children with neurodevelopmental conditions experienced greater food fussiness, emotional undereating, 'problematic' child mealtime behaviours, dietary concerns, higher stress for caregivers and spouses and less frequent conventionally structured mealtimes compared to those without these conditions. Families of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism + attention deficit hyperactivity disorder reported greater appetite, 'problematic' mealtime behaviours and increased stress for caregivers and spouses compared to families of children with autism. Meanwhile, families of children with autism and autism + attention deficit hyperactivity disorder reported less enjoyment of food and less structured mealtimes compared to those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Our findings highlight that families of children with neurodevelopmental conditions, particularly those with autism + attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, have different mealtime experiences and eating behaviours compared to those with neurotypical children. These families may benefit from support at mealtimes. Learning why people do or do not participate in shared family meals will be crucial to developing improved mealtime support in the future.
患有自闭症和注意力缺陷多动障碍等神经发育疾病的儿童在日后生活中可能会出现进食困难及相关健康问题。共享家庭用餐有助于预防这些问题的发生，但大多数研究关注的是子女神经发育正常的家庭。我们的目标是进一步了解自闭症、注意力缺陷多动障碍以及同时患有这两种疾病（自闭症 + 注意力缺陷多动障碍）的儿童家庭在用餐时间的经历。我们开展了一项在线调查，询问照料者有关其孩子的饮食、用餐体验以及他们是否感到压力。我们先对9名照料者进行了测试，并根据他们的反馈进行改进，然后招募了351名照料者完成主要调查。我们发现，与没有这些疾病的家庭相比，患有神经发育疾病儿童的家庭中，孩子对食物更挑剔、情绪性进食不足、出现“问题”用餐行为、存在饮食方面的担忧、照料者和配偶压力更大，并且传统结构化用餐时间更不频繁。与自闭症儿童的家庭相比，注意力缺陷多动障碍以及自闭症 + 注意力缺陷多动障碍儿童的家庭报告孩子食欲更强、出现“问题”用餐行为以及照料者和配偶压力增加。与此同时，与注意力缺陷多动障碍儿童的家庭相比，自闭症以及自闭症 + 注意力缺陷多动障碍儿童的家庭报告对食物的享受程度更低，用餐时间安排更不规律。我们的研究结果表明，与子女神经发育正常的家庭相比，患有神经发育疾病儿童的家庭，尤其是那些孩子患有自闭症 + 注意力缺陷多动障碍的家庭，在用餐体验和饮食行为方面存在差异。这些家庭可能会从用餐时的支持中受益。了解人们参与或不参与共享家庭用餐的原因对于未来开发更好的用餐支持至关重要。
