255 - Parental Pressure to Eat During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Poster Number: 255
Publication Number: 255.141

Annie Choi, Wake Forest University, Sugar Hill, GA, United States; Mara Z. Vitolins, Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC, United States; Joseph Skelton, Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC, United States; Edward H. Ip, Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC, United States; Caroline B. Lucas, Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC, United States; Callie L. Brown, Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC, United States

Background: Parent stress is associated with unhealthy parent feeding practices, such as pressuring their child to eat. Previous studies have assessed pressure to eat prior to the pandemic; however, it is unknown how parent feeding practices might have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: To explore the associations of parent pressure to eat with: a) parent’s stress and b) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their family.

Design/Methods: English-speaking parents of healthy 3-5-year-old children completed a survey at baseline (February 2020 – January 2021) consisting of validated measures of pressure to eat (Child Feeding Questionnaire, range 0-4, higher scores indicating more pressuring practices), parent stress (Perceived Stress Scale, range 0-40, higher scores indicating more stress), demographics, and household food insecurity (Hunger Vital Sign, 2 items, positive response to either item indicating positive screen). The survey was repeated at Year 1 (February 2021 – December 2021), with the addition of the Impact subscale of the COVID-19 Exposure and Family Impact Survey (range 0-60, higher score indicating a more negative impact from COVID) to assess the impact of COVID-19 on their family. We used linear regression to assess correlates of parental pressure to eat at Year 1, including baseline pressure to eat and parent stress, COVID Impact score, household income and food insecurity, and child age and race/ethnicity (at Year 1).

Results: Participants (Nf170 with baseline and Year 1 data) were racially and socioeconomically diverse. Between baseline and Year 1, parents’ change in mean (SD) pressure to eat and stress scores were -0.31 (0.92) and -0.06 (7.1), respectively. Parents reported a mean (SD) COVID Impact score of 23.68 (0.74). Parents with greater stress and COVID impact had higher pressure to eat at Year 1, adjusting for baseline pressure to eat (Table 1). Conclusion(s): Parents reporting greater stress and COVID-19 impact on their family had higher self-reported pressure to eat feeding practices, even after adjusting for previous pressuring practices and household socioeconomic factors. More research is needed to understand the impact of COVID-19 on other feeding practices and how this affects children’s future weight status and obesity risk.
Table 1: Results from multivariate linear regression analysis assessing correlates of parental pressure to eat at Year 1 (February 2021 – December 2021) during the COVID-19 pandemic* denotes p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001