Food parenting practices in rural poverty context

Abstract

Little is known about how low-income, rural mothers shape child eating behaviors. Descriptive and qualitative analysis of 55 mothers' surveys and in-depth interviews with 17 mothers in Washington state revealed a lack of alignment between mothers' intent to promote healthy child eating habits and counterproductive food parenting behaviors. Individual, family and community ecologies contributing to the divide included mothers' current nutrition knowledge, their childhood experiences, family food insecurity, housing issues preventing recommended practices, and a lack of public transportation or access to affordable grocery stores. The study highlights the need for educational programming that addresses contextual challenges and rural mothers' existing knowledge system to improve the family feeding environment.

Keywords: Family; Food and diet; Parenting; Policy and practice; Poverty; Rural.