Table 1.
Structure and control based feeding practice listed by feeding itemsa with their factor loadings. (N = 334)
| Structure-based feeding practice | Control-based feeding practice | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Itemsa | Item Source | Item response (%)b | Limit Exposure | Consistent Feeding Routines | Restriction | Pressure to Eat |
| 8c | Keep a lot of snack foods (potato chips, cheese puffs, tortilla chips) in my house | CFPQ (Environment) |
57.4 | .55 | .02 | -.01 | -.14 |
| 28c | Keep a lot of sweets/desserts (candy, ice cream, cake, pies, pastries) in my home | CFPQ (Environment) |
71.6 | .62 | .08 | -.04 | -.19 |
| 4c | Serve child sweets or desserts (ex. Cookie, cake, candy, freeze pops, ice cream) | IFSQe
(Permissive) |
40.8 | .59 | .07 | .07 | .01 |
| 6 c | Serve child sugar sweetened drinks (ex. fruit drink, soda, iced tea, or sports/energy drinks) | IFSQe
(Permissive) |
65.5 | .58 | .26 | .03 | .00 |
| 14 c | Serve child French fries. | Author developed | 31.3 | .45 | .18 | .16 | -.02 |
| 40 c | Let child have sugar sweetened drinks (ex. Fruit drink, soda, iced tea, or sports/energy drinks) anytime during day | Hurleye
(Indulgent) |
77 .9 | .58 | .33 | .11 | -.09 |
| 2 c | Let child eat sweets (ex. Cookie, cake, candy, freeze pops, ice cream) anytime during the day | Author developed | 63.1 | .53 | .28 | .14 | -.11 |
| 1 | Avoid buying sweets/desserts I don’t want child to eat | Author developed | 59.2 | .45 | .40 | .34 | -.05 |
| 43 | Try not to eat unhealthy foods when child is around | CFPQe (Modeling; revised from eating healthy to avoiding unhealthy foods) | 55.6 | .42 | .28 | .37 | .10 |
| 3 | Avoid eating snacks/sweets in front of child that you don’t want him to eat | CPFPe
(energy dense food encountering practice) |
65.0 | .46 | .35 | .36 | -.17 |
| 41 | I do not allow other people to give sweets and snacks to my toddler without asking me | TFQe | 63.4 | .43 | .26 | .20 | .18 |
| 21c | Let child eat snack foods anytime during the dayd | IFSQe
(Laissez-faire) |
70.8 | .36 | .36 | .21 | -.07 |
| 30 | Serve child green/yellow/orange vegetable each day | Author developed | 74.2 | .24 | .43 | .08 | .13 |
| 37 | Child eats breakfast at same time and place | Author developed | 87.0 | .15 | .64 | .14 | -.03 |
| 36 | Serve small child size helpings at meals | CFPQe
(restriction for weight control; removed “due to weight” |
80.2 | .21 | .47 | .22 | -.01 |
| 39 | Child eats dinner at same time each night (within about 15 min) | Author developed | 73.8 | .22 | .59 | .10 | -.02 |
| 26 | Keep a lot of fresh fruits/vegetables in my home | CPFPe
(removed; didn’t load on original scale) |
89.3 | .20 | .44 | .12 | .14 |
| 7 | Serve small child size helpings at snacks | CFPQe
(restriction for weight control; changed meal to snack and removed “due to weight” |
79.2 | .05 | .44 | .08 | -.11 |
| 19 | Have child sit in a chair when eating meals | CPFPe
(Mealtime behavior) |
88.5 | .09 | .43 | .07 | -.19 |
| 5 | Have clear rules about when child can eat snacks/sweets | TFQe | 69.5 | .34 | .45 | .38 | .09 |
| 35 | Child eats at scheduled meal and snack times, not in-between | CFPQ (Restriction for weight control, deleted “because I don’t want him/her to get fat) | 41.8 | .21 | .44 | .29 | .15 |
| 34 | I have very firm rules about what types of foods I allow my toddler to have (with no exceptions) | TFQ | 46.5 | .23 | .41 | .38 | .25 |
| 9 | I hide foods that I don’t want my child to eat | CFQe
(restriction) |
40.1 | .12 | .16 | .75 | .09 |
| 10 | If my child is eating too much, I take some of it away | CFQe | 26.0 | -.09 | .12 | .45 | .18 |
| 18 | When my child is drinking too much of a sugar-sweetened beverage, I take the cup/bottle away or pour some out | Author developed | 46.7 | .04 | .17 | .52 | .17 |
| 42 | In my home, I hide snack foods from my child that I don’t want my child to eat | CFQ/TFQe
(restriction/ access) |
28.0 | .17 | .17 | .71 | .20 |
| 13 | I get upset when my child eats too many snacks or salty foods without asking | Author developed | 35.5 | .08 | .07 | .54 | .18 |
| 11 | Avoid taking child to places where my child may ask for sweets, snacks, junk | TFQ | 14.8 | .15 | .10 | .62 | .18 |
| 38 | I have to trick, distract, play with, or praise my child to get him/her to finish his/her bottle/food. | Hurley (Forceful) | 7.6 | -.13 | -.21 | .21 | .52 |
| 23 | If I did not control my child’s eating, he/she would eat much less than he/she should | CFQe | 17.5 | -.09 | -.10 | .19 | .55 |
| 27 | I try to get my child to finish his/her food. | Hurley (forceful) | 51.7 | .03 | .15 | .11 | .65 |
| 24 | If my child seems full, I encourage him/her to finish his/her food anyway. | IFSQe (responsive) | 8.4 | -.03 | -.08 | .14 | .54 |
| 33 | I try to get my child to eat even if s/he doesn’t seem hungry or says “I’m not hungry” | CFQe | 14.7 | -.14 | -.06 | .11 | .53 |
| 25 | I praise my child after each bite to encourage him/her to finish his/her food. | IFSQe (pressure) | 41.3 | -.05 | .14 | .21 | .53 |
| Other practices included in EFA, but eliminated because items had loadings less than .40 | |||||||
| 22 | Child drinks milk at dinner every night | Author developed | 45.6 | ||||
| 16 | Let child eat directly out of regular-sized snack bags (ex. Bags of chips/pretzels, box of cookies, candy, etc.) | Author developed | 83.9 | ||||
| 31 | Have all of child’s favorite foods at home | Author developed | 7.5 | ||||
| 20 | At mealtimes, I give child same amount of foods as I serve myself | Author developed | 89.7 | ||||
| 17 | Give child same amount of snacks as I serve myself | Author developed | 89.7 | ||||
| 29 | I like to have complete control over what types of sweets and snacks my toddler is able to eat (is given) | TFQ | 78.0 | ||||
| 46 | I offer food to get my child to do what I want him/her to do | Author developed | 0.0 | ||||
| 44 | I offer my child his/her favorite foods as a reward for good behavior | CFQ/CFPQ (restriction/ food as reward) | 6.6 | ||||
| 45 | I withhold sweets/desserts from my child in response to bad behavior | CFQ/CFPQ (restriction/ food as reward) |
11.5 | ||||
| 47 | I offer my child a “treat” or “dessert” for eating everything on his/her plate | Author developed | 13.8 | ||||
| 50 | I offer my child a “treat” or “dessert” to get my child to eat his/her vegetables | Author developed | 5.1 | ||||
| 48c | If I’ve told child “No, you can’t have it,” likely to give it to him anyway | TFQe | 82.9 | ||||
| 49c | Likely to give child whatever he wants to eat. | Hurleye (Indulgent) | 52.2 | ||||
| 12c | Let child watch TV while eating | IFSQe/CPFQe
(Indulgent/ mealtime behavior) |
55.4 | ||||
| 32 | If child doesn’t like what we are eating, I fix something else for child to eat | IFQe | 41.5 | ||||
| 15 | Child eats with me/another caregiver at table each night | Author Developed | 90.0 | ||||
aScored on a 5-point likert scale: 0 = never and 4 = always
b.Percentage of responses between 2 (sometimes) and 4 (always)
cReverse coded
d Factor membership is determined if an item loaded at 0.40 or greater with one exception. Item 21 was retained in analysis despite loading <0.4 because it was consistent with “Feeding Consistent Routines” factor
eItem was modified from the original scale following cognitive interviews
Abbreviations: CFPQ Comprehensive Feeding Practice Questionnaire [27], CFQ Child Feed Questionnaire [28], Hurley Feeding style items developed by Hurley et al. [29], IFQ Infant Feeding Questionnaire [30], IFSQ Infant Feeding Styles Questionnaire [31], and CPFP Control in Parent Feeding Practices questionnaire [32], Toddler Feeding Questionnaire [33]