The Nutritional Effect of Parental Use of Food as a Reward

Field Observation of Adverse Nutritional Effect of Parental Use of Food as a Reinforcer for Non-food Related Behavior

Control rules are common parental practices that use food as reward to encourage children to conduct parents' preferred behaviors. This field observational study aims to examine whether control rules are associated with children's increased fat, carbohydrate and total energy intake in everyday eating, and whether this effect is moderated by individual differences in sensitivity to reward, and by gender differences.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Children's Nutrition Intake
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: no intervention

Detailed Description

Control rules are parental practices that use food as an instrumental reinforcer to encourage children to behave in a normative manner in non-food domains. Since food high in fat or sugar is usually chosen as a reinforcer for control rules, these rules may lead to children's increased preference and every day intake of food high in sugar/fat. Research propositions were examined in 207 six to twelve-year-old children (97 boys and 110 girls). Their parents reported the children's everyday dietary intake through a food frequency questionnaire, and provided information regarding the children's sensitivity to rewards as well as an indication of how frequently they enforce family control rules.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 207

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 6 years to 12 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The parents or guardians of 207 children (97 boys and 110 girls) aged from 6 to 12 (M=8.98, SD=1.67) completed the study. Participants were recruited from metropolitan Montreal, Canada.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• participants have 6-12 years old children

Exclusion Criteria:

• N.A.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Food Frequency Questionnaire	A web-based Food Frequency Questionnaire was used to aske participants' parents to recall their children's food intake over the last month based on a list of 136 individual food items or food clusters, which covered eight categories of food and beverages. For each individual food item or cluster, participants were asked to indicate how frequently their children consumed that food and the typical portion size.	last month recall

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: McGill University
• Collaborators: Dalhousie University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: March 1, 2013
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 1, 2013
• Study Completion (Actual): July 1, 2013

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 29, 2015
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 29, 2015
• First Posted (Estimate): February 3, 2015

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): February 3, 2015
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 29, 2015
• Last Verified: January 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: food reinforcement; children dietary pattern; control rules; instrumental learning
• Other Study ID Numbers: SSHRC-Insight: 435-2014-1964