Parenting Styles and Home Obesogenic Environments

Parenting behaviors are known to have a major impact on childhood obesity but it has proven difficult to isolate the specific mechanism of influence. The present study uses Baumrind’s parenting typologies (authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive) to examine associations between parenting styles...

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Main Authors: Michelle Ihmels, Greg Welk, Rachel Johnson, Pedro F. Saint-Maurice
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2012-04-01
Series:International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/9/4/1411/
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spelling doaj-eeab6900f22449078e5a831df4441c112020-11-25T01:15:41ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health1660-46012012-04-01941411142610.3390/ijerph9041411Parenting Styles and Home Obesogenic EnvironmentsMichelle IhmelsGreg WelkRachel JohnsonPedro F. Saint-MauriceParenting behaviors are known to have a major impact on childhood obesity but it has proven difficult to isolate the specific mechanism of influence. The present study uses Baumrind’s parenting typologies (authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive) to examine associations between parenting styles and parenting practices associated with childhood obesity. Data were collected from a diverse sample of children (n = 182, ages 7–10) in an urban school district in the United States. Parenting behaviors were assessed with the Parenting Styles and Dimension Questionnaire (PSDQ), a 58-item survey that categorizes parenting practices into three styles: authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive. Parent perceptions of the home obesogenic environment were assessed with the Family Nutrition and Physical Activity (FNPA) instrument, a simple 10 item instrument that has been shown in previous research to predict risk for overweight. Cluster analyses were used to identify patterns in the PSDQ data and these clusters were related to FNPA scores and measured BMI values in children (using ANCOVA analyses that controlled for parent income and education) to examine the impact of parenting styles on risk of overweight/obesity. The FNPA score was positively (and significantly) associated with scores on the authoritative parenting scale (r = 0.29) but negatively (and significantly) associated with scores on the authoritarian scale (r = −0.22) and permissive scale (r = −0.20). Permissive parenting was significantly associated with BMIz score but this is the only dimension that exhibited a relationship with BMI. A three-cluster solution explained 40.5% of the total variance and clusters were distinguishable by low and high z-scores on different PSDQ sub-dimensions. A cluster characterized as Permissive/Authoritarian (Cluster 2) had significantly lower FNPA scores (more obesogenic) than clusters characterized as Authoritative (Cluster 1) or Authoritarian/Authoritative (Cluster 3) after controlling for family income and parent education. No direct effects of cluster were evident on the BMI outcomes but the patterns were consistent with the FNPA outcomes. The results suggest that a permissive parenting style is associated with more obesogenic environments while an authoritative parenting style is associated with less obesogenic environments.http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/9/4/1411/childrenparenting stylehome environmentobesity
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Michelle Ihmels
Greg Welk
Rachel Johnson
Pedro F. Saint-Maurice
spellingShingle Michelle Ihmels
Greg Welk
Rachel Johnson
Pedro F. Saint-Maurice
Parenting Styles and Home Obesogenic Environments
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
children
parenting style
home environment
obesity
author_facet Michelle Ihmels
Greg Welk
Rachel Johnson
Pedro F. Saint-Maurice
author_sort Michelle Ihmels
title Parenting Styles and Home Obesogenic Environments
title_short Parenting Styles and Home Obesogenic Environments
title_full Parenting Styles and Home Obesogenic Environments
title_fullStr Parenting Styles and Home Obesogenic Environments
title_full_unstemmed Parenting Styles and Home Obesogenic Environments
title_sort parenting styles and home obesogenic environments
publisher MDPI AG
series International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
issn 1660-4601
publishDate 2012-04-01
description Parenting behaviors are known to have a major impact on childhood obesity but it has proven difficult to isolate the specific mechanism of influence. The present study uses Baumrind’s parenting typologies (authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive) to examine associations between parenting styles and parenting practices associated with childhood obesity. Data were collected from a diverse sample of children (n = 182, ages 7–10) in an urban school district in the United States. Parenting behaviors were assessed with the Parenting Styles and Dimension Questionnaire (PSDQ), a 58-item survey that categorizes parenting practices into three styles: authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive. Parent perceptions of the home obesogenic environment were assessed with the Family Nutrition and Physical Activity (FNPA) instrument, a simple 10 item instrument that has been shown in previous research to predict risk for overweight. Cluster analyses were used to identify patterns in the PSDQ data and these clusters were related to FNPA scores and measured BMI values in children (using ANCOVA analyses that controlled for parent income and education) to examine the impact of parenting styles on risk of overweight/obesity. The FNPA score was positively (and significantly) associated with scores on the authoritative parenting scale (r = 0.29) but negatively (and significantly) associated with scores on the authoritarian scale (r = −0.22) and permissive scale (r = −0.20). Permissive parenting was significantly associated with BMIz score but this is the only dimension that exhibited a relationship with BMI. A three-cluster solution explained 40.5% of the total variance and clusters were distinguishable by low and high z-scores on different PSDQ sub-dimensions. A cluster characterized as Permissive/Authoritarian (Cluster 2) had significantly lower FNPA scores (more obesogenic) than clusters characterized as Authoritative (Cluster 1) or Authoritarian/Authoritative (Cluster 3) after controlling for family income and parent education. No direct effects of cluster were evident on the BMI outcomes but the patterns were consistent with the FNPA outcomes. The results suggest that a permissive parenting style is associated with more obesogenic environments while an authoritative parenting style is associated with less obesogenic environments.
topic children
parenting style
home environment
obesity
url http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/9/4/1411/
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