Parental Feeding, Child Eating and Physical Activity: Differences in Children Living with and without Asthma

Rebecca Clarke, Gemma Heath, Prasad Nagakumar, Helen Pattison and Claire Farrow
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Rebecca Clarke: School of Psychology, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
Gemma Heath: School of Psychology, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
Prasad Nagakumar: Department of Paediatric Respiratory Medicine and Cystic Fibrosis, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Birmingham B4 6NH, UK
Helen Pattison: School of Psychology, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
Claire Farrow: School of Psychology, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 7, 1-14

Abstract: This study aimed to establish the differences in parental attitudes toward feeding and activity, as well as child eating and activity levels, between families of children living with and without asthma. Parents of children and young people aged between 10 and 16 years living both with asthma (n = 310) and without asthma (n = 311) completed measures for parental feeding, parental attitudes toward child exercise, child eating, child activity level and asthma control. Children living with asthma had a significantly higher BMIz (BMI standardised for weight and age) score, were significantly more likely to emotionally overeat and desired to drink more than their peers without asthma. Parents of children with asthma reported greater use of food to regulate emotions, restriction of food for weight control, monitoring of child activity, pressure to exercise and control over child activity. When asthma symptoms were controlled, parental restriction of food for weight management predicted greater child BMIz scores, and higher child activity predicted lower child BMIz scores. These relationships were not found to be significant for children with inadequately controlled asthma. Differences in parental attitudes toward feeding and exercise, and child eating and exercise behaviors, between families may help to explain the increased obesity risk for children with asthma.

Keywords: asthma; parents; adolescence; weight management; feeding; exercise (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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