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Influences of the family and childcare food environments on preschoolers’ healthy eating |
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Julia Tysoe
University of Adelaide
Carlene Wilson
Flinders University and Cancer Council South Australia
The study extends Campbel, Crawford and Ball’s (2006) findings that the family
food environment influences eating in children by examining whether young children’s
food intake at home is also influenced by the childcare food environment. Participants
were 103 parents of children aged three to five years who attended childcare centres in
South Australia. Centres had either obtained the ‘Start Right Eat Right’ (SRER) nutrition
certification; an award associated with compliance with the government’s healthy
eating guidelines, or had not attained certification with SRER. Participating parents
completed a questionnaire measuring the family food environment as well as a food
frequency questionnaire that recorded children’s intake of ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’
foods. Parents of children at SRER centres reported that their children ate more healthy
food choices at home, as measured using the food frequency questionnaire, than
parents of children attending non-SRER accredited centres. Pressure to eat, parental
modelling, monitoring and perceptions of adequacy of a child’s diet were all associated
with children’s eating. The results suggest that childcare centres, in addition to the
family environment, can have an important role to play in developing healthy dietary
choices in preschool children.
Australasian Journal of Early Childhood – Volume 35 No 3 September 2010
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 31 March 2011 )
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