Article Text
Abstract
Background: Among adults, a stronger sense of coherence (SOC) seems to promote a better coping with strain and is associated with healthier behaviours, including eating patterns. The parents’ SOC may also have a wider effect on the health behaviour of their children. The aim of this study is to determine whether there are associations between parents’ SOC and the eating patterns of their children and if this can be explained by mediating factors.
Methods: Cross-sectional. In 2006, 1268 (response rate 79%) 10- and 11-year-old children in southern Finland, in a classroom situation, filled in a questionnaire assessing meal pattern and food frequency intake. Parents, 816 (response rate 64%), filled in a questionnaire assessing SOC (13 items) and eating patterns. Matching data were found from 772 child–parent pairs. χ2 tests, factor analysis, univariate analysis of variance and logistic regression analyses were used as statistical methods.
Results: A weaker parental SOC was associated with children’s irregular meal pattern (p = 0.004), more frequent intake of energy-rich foods (p = 0.002) and less frequent intake of nutrient-rich foods (p = 0.051). Mediating factors, such as availability and accessibility of fruit and vegetables at home, parent’s nutrition knowledge, parents’ own fruit and vegetable intake and an irregular meal pattern, explained the association between parents’ SOC and children’s intake of nutrient-dense foods, but not the association with energy-rich foods.
Conclusions: Parents’ weaker SOC was associated with children’s unhealthier eating patterns. More research is needed on the associations between parents’ SOC and other health-related behaviours in their children.
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Footnotes
Funding This study has been supported by Folkhälsan Research Center, Juho Vainio Foundation, Päivikki and Sakari Sohlberg Foundation, Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation, Victoria Foundation, Medicinska understödsföreningen Liv och Hälsa and the Doctoral Programme in Public Health at the Universities of Tampere and Helsinki, Finland.
Competing interests None.
Ethics approval Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Helsinki in spring 2006.
Provenance and Peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.