Parental self-efficacy, parental restrictions and young children's food consumption: does socio-economic status play a role?

Compared with ample evidence on the influence of the home food environment on children's food consumption, associations between certain aspects of the social home food environment (such as parental self-efficacy (PSE) and parental restrictions) and young children's food consumption are less studied. Our aims were 1) to investigate the associations among feeding-related PSE, sugary food and drink (SFD)-related parental restrictions, and children's food consumption, and 2) to determine whether socio-economic factors (parental education level and household relative income) moderate them. We used cross-sectional data from 564 Finnish 3- to 6-year-olds participating in the DAGIS study. Parents completed a questionnaire assessing the home food environment and socio-economic status and a food frequency questionnaire assessing children's food consumption. Principal component analysis was used to identify SFD-related parental restriction patterns. We calculated a children's Healthy Food Intake Index (HFII) using food frequency data. We regressed the associations among feeding-related PSE and SFD-related parental restriction patterns in single and multiple regression models. Moderation by parental education level and household relative income was also tested. We identified three SFD-related parenting practice patterns: restricting SFD consumption, restricting SFD accessibility, and restricting SFD availability. Feeding-related PSE (B = 0.88, p < 0.001) and restricting SFD availability (B = 0.46, p < 0.001) were significantly associated with the children's HFII after adjusting the model for socio-economic factors. Parental education level or household relative income did not moderate any of these associations. Future health promotion interventions should target enhancing feeding-related PSE and restricting SFD availability to improve children's food consumption despite socio-economic status.