The relationship between food refusal and picky eating behaviors in children and parental eating attitudes and parental stress

Food neophobia is one of the eating behaviors of children that cause great concern in parents. Children's eating habits can be influenced by their parents who are their social role models. Therefore, assessing the relationship between parent and child nutrition is essential to reveal the factors affecting the development of healthy eating habits from an early age and to prevent nutritional problems in adulthood. This study was planned and conducted to assess the relationship between food refusal and picky eating behaviors in children aged 2-6 years with parental eating attitudes and parental stress. The study included mothers who applied to Kaletepe Healthy Life Center, Nutrition and Diet Polyclinic of Yenimahalle District Health Directorate of Ankara Provincial Health Directorate between September and December 2022 and who had children aged 2-6 years and volunteered to participate in the study. The questionnaire form used in the study consisted of general information and health information of the mother and child, Parent Mealtime Action Scale (PMAS), Parental Stress Scale (PSS), and Child Food Rejection Scale (CFRS). The participants received the highest mean score from the positive persuasion sub-dimension (9.6±1.59) and the lowest mean score from the insistence on eating sub-dimension (4.6±1.48). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between the special meals sub-dimension of the PMAS and the selectivity sub-dimension (r=0.26), the neophobia sub-dimension (r=0.29), and the total score (r=0.30) of the CFRS (p<0.05). A statistically significant positive correlation was found between the total score of the PSS and the CFRS selectivity score (r=0.16, p<0.05), CFRS neophobia score (r=0.21, p<0.01), and CFRS total score (r=0.2, p<0.01). Parents' high anxiety level negatively affects mother-child interaction and increases children's food refusal behavior. In this respect, it would be useful to conduct other studies to more clearly reveal the effect of parental eating behavior and parental stress on food refusal and selectivity observed in children.