Parent Influences on the Dietary Habits of Young Adults

Abstract

To better understand the processes through which eating habits during childhood are carried over into adulthood, I asked the question: under what circumstances and through which patterns do the feeding behaviors of parents become replicated and emerge as habitual in their children during young adulthood? I aim to investigate how parenting style and parent behaviors surrounding food and diet influence children’s dietary habits in the long-term. Previous research indicates that income is a major factor determining parents’ feeding behavior, so I set out to combine income level and parent feeding style in one study. I hypothesized that young adults who recalled their parents engaging in behaviors associated with the authoritative parenting style would be most likely to replicate those eating behaviors as habit from childhood into young adulthood. To better understand the process through which these variables ultimately cultivated the dietary behaviors of the young adults I interviewed, I selected three dietary habits—presence of breakfast, moderation of added sugar intake, sufficient vegetable consumption—that have been associated with positive health outcomes. II observed several distinct patterns: (i) young adults who continue to eat breakfast had previously experienced a high level of engagement from their parents surrounding the meal during childhood; (ii) young adults whose parents engaged with their children’s added sugar intake were more likely to carry similar habits and attitudes related to sugar into young adulthood; (iii) many young adults experienced external factors which also initiated a significant transition towards healthier eating habits independent of their parents’ influence.