Investigating Mothers' Decisions to Give Their 2- to 3-Year-Old Child a Nutritionally Balanced Diet

Abstract

Objective: To identify, using the Theory of Planned Behavior, the sociocognitive factors that influence mothers’ decisions toward healthy eating and limiting discretionary choices (eg, lollipops) for their children aged 2–3 years. Design: Prospective correlational design with a 1-week follow-up. Participants: A total of 197 mothers completed the main survey; 161 completed the follow-up behavior measure. Variables Measured: Phase 1 assessed intention, attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control; and 2 additional variables of parental role construction and group norms. Phase 2 assessed follow-up behavior. Analysis: Hierarchical multiple regressions (changes in multivariate coefficient) were used to predict mothers’ intentions and actions for the two target behaviors. Results: Attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control predicted intentions; and intentions and perceived behavioral control predicted behavior for healthy eating and discretionary choices. Parental role construction was a significant predictor of intentions for both target behaviors. Conclusions and Implications: Results provide support for the application of the Theory of Planned Behavior in this context, as well as the addition of parental role construction. The findings illustrate the potential importance of developing intervention programs that account for sociocognitive factors to modify mothers’ child feeding practices that have implications for lifelong health outcomes.