Background
The benefits of a healthy diet, sufficient physical activity (PA) and limited sedentary behavior (SB) in children, have been well documented and include prevention of overweight and obesity, cardiovascular diseases, depression, fear, stress, poor self-image, and improvement of quality of life [
1‐
5]. Despite these benefits, many children do not meet the recommendations for a healthy diet [
6,
7], sufficient PA [
8] or limited SB [
9]. Furthermore, children’s dietary patterns [
10,
11], PA [
12,
13] and SB [
14] track from childhood into adolescence and adulthood. Therefore, consistently intervening in early years across settings, before an obesogenic lifestyle is deeply rooted, is needed [
15].
In the literature, an increasing number of studies and reviews highlights the impact of parenting on the development of healthy children [
5,
16‐
26]. There is extensive evidence that parents influence their children’s personal behavioral determinants by shaping their attitudes and social norms and by enhancing their children’s self-efficacy in exhibiting a healthy lifestyle. Within this research area, a subdivision is made between the influence of
general parenting styles and
specific parenting practices regarding diet, PA and/or SB [
22‐
28]. The commonly used approach in
general parenting research is based on the work of Maccoby and Martin [
27] who described parenting style as a function of two dimensions of parental behavior: the responsiveness of parents to their child’s needs through affectionate and sensitive interactions (involvement), and the attempt to control their child’s behavior through discipline and expectations (strictness). Results from the review of Sleddens et al. [
28] suggest that children raised in authoritative homes (high involvement and high strictness) ate more healthily, were more physically active and had lower BMI levels compared to children who were raised with other styles (authoritarian, permissive, neglectful).
Specific parenting practices include influencing a child’s specific behavior (healthy diet, PA or SB) via e.g. modeling, social support, parental control, availability and rules and agreements [
24,
29‐
31]. Recently, many studies were designed to prevent obesity and/or promote health in children through specific dietary, PA and SB changes that involved parents [
19,
32‐
39]. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have been conducted to assess which of these specific practices parents evaluate as effective and achievable to implement. Since the success of a parenting program depends upon the degree to which parents’ concerns and motivations are integrated into the program design [
40], the current study aims to address this gap in literature.
Parental practices have also been studied in Self Determination Theory (SDT) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) which both support the principles of authoritative parenting. Parenting practices as reacting empathetically, motivating, increasing the intrinsic value of an activity, applying clear rules and agreements, being consistent, modeling, monitoring and offering alternative activities with as much choice as possible, fulfill both the principles of SDT and SCT [
41‐
46]. Besides these shared principles, each theory also emphasizes different aspects of effective parenting practices. According to SDT, all human beings have the fundamental need to feel related, competent, and autonomous in order to develop and function optimally [
47]. Relatedness refers to the need to feel connected to others, to be a member of a larger community, to love and care and to be loved and cared for. The feeling of competence covers the belief that one has the means to control his or her own behaviors and is closely related to the concept of self-efficacy. Finally, the need for autonomy represents an individual’s inherent desire to act as the causal agent of one’s own life and act in harmony with one’s inner self [
48]. Another important concept in SDT is internalization, the process by which individuals gradually transform certain externally reached beliefs, attitudes or behaviors into personally appreciated ones. As initial uninteresting activities become more internalized, they are performed with a larger feeling of autonomy, psychological freedom or self-determination [
49]. SCT on the other hand specifies the unending reciprocal interrelatedness of personal, physical and social environmental, and behavioral factors [
50]. Key elements of SCT include outcome expectancies, perceived self-efficacy, social norms, behavioral skills, reinforcement, and environmental factors such as availability [
51]. Additionally, SCT focuses on the impact of external contingencies on the individual’s behavior. When receiving a reward or punishment for a certain behavior, a child is more or less likely to repeat that behavior [
44].
Since several reviews conclude that a potential barrier to implement an effective parent-focused intervention is a lack of theory-driven research [
11,
52,
53], a second aim of the current study is to investigate the relationship between the perceived effective and ineffective parenting practices and SDT or SCT.
The present study is situated at the developmental stage of the Intervention Mapping Protocol, a problem- and theory-driven protocol that was especially developed to guide the design of evidence-based intervention programs [
54]. Since parents report the need for strategies to encourage their children to eat healthy foods and be more physically active [
55], the information arising from the current study will be used to inform the content of a randomized controlled trial consisting of a parenting intervention aimed at promoting a healthy diet, PA, and less SB in primary schoolchildren. Focus groups were held with parents to discover perceived effective and ineffective parenting practices related to the three energy-related behaviors and situating them within SDT and/or SCT.
Methods
Participants
The study used a convenience sample of parents of primary schoolchildren. Parents were recruited via their workplace to participate in a focus group during lunch break. All workplaces were located in Flanders (i.e. the Dutch speaking part of Belgium) and belonged to two industries (healthcare and marketing). This recruitment method was preferred over e.g. contacting parents through the child’s school, as participation during lunch break on the worksite was considered more convenient for parents than joining a focus group after school time. Doing so, we aimed to minimize selection bias by also reaching those parents who would otherwise not volunteer for a discussion on children’s health. All employees and employers of the workplace who had at least one primary schoolchild were invited to participate, whereby focus groups consisted of parents of different Social Economic Status (SES). SES was measured using the reported educational level of the parent. Low SES was determined as parents having no higher education (highest obtained degree of secondary school or lower education) and medium to high SES as parents having higher education (vocational college, university or post-academic).
Procedure
The interview guide was pilot tested for relevance and comprehensability in May 2012 and minor textual modifications were made. All data were collected between June and October 2012 by the same two trained researchers. Thirteen workplaces were contacted, of which three agreed to participate (RR = 23%). Reasons to decline were ‘lack of time’ (n=4) and ‘employing too few people in the study’s target group (parents of a primary schoolchild)’ (n=4). Two companies did not reply. The general manager gave permission to invite all employers and employees to participate via information letters. Since recruitment of a sufficient number of participants (six to ten) was difficult, all parents who volunteered, attended the focus groups. In one company, two focus groups (each with six participants) were organized; the remaining two focus groups were held with four and with five participants.
At the start of the focus group sessions, consent forms were filled in, participants’ anonymity and confidentiality were ensured and permission to audiotape was obtained. The discussion occurred in a medium-sized room and lasted approximately one and a half hour. Lunch was provided at each session and participants received a small incentive of the value of 4$ for their participation. Ethical approval was provided by the Ethics Committee of the University Hospital of Ghent.
In order to familiarize parents with the themes, participants completed a brief questionnaire before the onset of the discussion. This questionnaire introduced some challenging parenting situations related to healthy diet, PA and SB, which relied on anecdotal reports (Table
1). In particular, parents were asked 1) if they had already experienced such a situation; 2) if they considered it as a problem; and 3) how they would react if their child behaved that way. Subsequently, a semi-structured questioning route in which the examples of the questionnaire were used as a starting point to stimulate the discussion, was used to guide the group debate (Table
2). Hereby, parents adjusted the hypothetical situations to their own real-lived experiences. The quality of the questioning route was verified in discussion with prominent health researchers. Every theme (healthy diet, PA, and SB) was wound up with the question ‘Are there any further situations you experience as difficult to let your child be enough physically active/to limit your child’s sedentary behavior/to make your child eat healthily?’. After each focus group, the two researchers debriefed, discussed themes, issues and ideas presented in the session, and discoursed differences with earlier focus groups.
Table 1
Examples of difficult situations related to healthy diet, PA and SB discussed in the questionnaire
Difficult situations PA | 1. Before Thor leaves for the youth movement/sports club, he suddenly says that he does not want to go. For years, he has always enjoyed himself and has been enthusiastic about the activities, but today he protests upon departure. |
2. Frank is about to cycle to school together with his daughter Marie. Marie complains that she is tired and wants to go to school by car. |
Difficult situations SB | 1. On a Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., Martine and Peter are doing the housekeeping (cleaning the table, washing the dishes, ironing, hanging out the laundry, …). Their child Stef asks to watch TV. |
2. Luca has been playing for half an hour on his Nintendo. His mother thinks he has played long enough and tells her son to quit, but Luca does not want to stop playing. |
Difficult situations healthy diet | 1. Wout’s family is having dinner together. Wout finished his potatoes and meat but leaves his vegetables untouched. He refuses to eat the vegetables because he does not like them. |
2. At breakfast, Liza refuses to eat her sandwich because she does not feel hungry. |
Table 2
Questioning route for the focus groups, used for every given situation considered in the questionnaire
1. Who has already experienced such a situation with his/her primary schoolchild? | - How do you react in such a situation? |
- Which core terms did you write down in the questionnaire? |
2. Which reactions entail that your child does what you asked for (= positive effect)? | - Are you always consistent? |
3. According to you, which reactions are ineffective and cause your child to disobey (= negative effect)? | |
4. How does your child react to your behavior or your reaction? | |
5. What would your child try to get his/her way? | |
Analyses
All focus groups were audiotaped and transcribed to facilitate analysis. Data were coded and analyzed using Thematic Analysis [
56] in the qualitative data analysis software Nvivo 10.0. In Thematic Analysis, a coding framework tends to be constructed on the basis of the theoretical interests guiding the research questions, on the basis of salient issues that arise in the text itself, or on the basis of both [
56]. Since SDT and SCT are two prominent theories in parenting literature, the focus groups were conducted taking them into account. Furthermore, whereas focus groups are often chosen as a strategy to discover new themes, the aim of the current group discussions was to identify whether parenting strategies, which are already recognized in literature, were perceived as effective or ineffective by parents. Whilst all data were read and considered, the main aim of the analysis was to identify factors that would need to be taken into account when developing a parenting program.
All four focus groups were independently coded by two trained researchers, which gave a full analysis of interrater reliability (ICC=0.87). Differences were discussed until full consensus was reached.
Discussion
This study examined the use of parenting practices in raising healthy primary schoolchildren in specific situations around healthy diet, PA and SB. The findings provide new insights into which practices parents use and whether they perceive them as effective or ineffective. Furthermore, these perceived effective and ineffective parenting practices are situated within one or both theories (SDT or SCT). To start with, general findings across all three energy-related behaviors will be discussed. Secondly, specific findings concerning the three energy-related behaviors will be considered separately and finally, some limitations of the study will be recognized.
General parenting practices
Across all focus groups, a strong consensus was found concerning the positive effect of explaining to a child why it is important to engage in healthy behavior. According to SDT, giving the child a reasonable explanation for behaving healthily, will make the child understand why he/she has to act that way. This autonomy-supportive practice enhances the chance that the child will obey.
In the group discussions using time-out appeared to be an effective and commonly used parenting practice. This practice, which is in accordance with the principles of SCT, was also studied by Kaminski et al. [
57]. Teaching parents to use time-out was an effective parent training component associated with larger effects on enhancing behavior in children aged 0–7 [
57]. According to our knowledge, time-out has not yet been studied as a parenting practice in the scope of SDT. But, bearing in mind the principles of SDT, time-out could yield benefits in particular circumstances for which mainly the way of using time-out is important. If negative emotions gain the upper hand and the child is impervious to reason, then time-out can be predicted as an effective parenting practice when explaining the reason for the use of time-out and restarting the interaction with the child afterwards.
Furthermore, parents reported the counterproductive practice ‘anger’ of which the ineffectiveness is in line with SDT because it frustrates the fundamental basic human need to feel related, competent, and autonomous [
42,
47].
Physical activity
Reacting empathetically, motivating your child to be active and increasing the intrinsic value of an activity are all mentioned in the group discussions as effective parenting practices. Their perceived effectiveness is consistent with both the principles of SDT and SCT as these practices are autonomy supportive and encourage pro-social behavior. This effectiveness was also confirmed in several studies on parenting practices for healthy lifestyles. The review of Kaminski et al. [
57] about parent training effectiveness demonstrated that increasing positive parent–child interactions and parental emotional communication skills are consistently associated with larger effects on enhancing behavior in children aged 0–7. Moreover, a growing body of research shows that children are more likely to be physically active when their parents encourage and support them to be active [
20,
58] and participate together in sport or physical activities with them [
59,
60].
Other parenting practices considered effective, were applying clear rules and agreements, being consistent and parental monitoring. Parents give their children as much freedom as possible (which is autonomy supporting), but simultaneously they impose the necessary limits by making clear agreements, monitoring the behavior of their child and being consistent when the child does not listen. These parenting practices provide structure to a child which fulfills both the principles of SCT and the fundamental need of feeling competent according to SDT [
44,
61].
Less consensus existed on the effectiveness of obligations. Some parents stated that they give their child the freedom to choose him/herself to go to the sports club or youth movement, whereas others oblige their child to go. In the latter, parents tend to control their child’s behavior (i.e., pressurize them to behave, think or feel in a certain way) rather than support their child’s autonomy as in the first example. Results of a varied number of studies have affirmed that controlling contexts undermine children’s intrinsic motivation [
61], which is incompatible with the concepts of SDT to actively support the child’s capacity to be self-initiating and autonomous [
62].
Finally, being rewarded at the end of a task or behavior, was reported by parents as a stimulus for the child to persist. Also in the study of Borra et al. [
63] parents mentioned that children need instant gratification. If children have to sustain, they need incentives along the way. This practice of rewarding fits with the principles of SCT, of which the fundamental tenet is that moment-to-moment exchanges are crucial: if a child receives an immediate reward for its behavior, then he/she is more likely to repeat this behavior [
44]. In the qualitative study of Sebire et al. [
64], children believed that rewards for screen viewing reductions would lead to behavior change. However, some reported that removal of rewards was frustrating. This is in accordance with SDT which believes that rewards undermine children’s natural interest in activities and the need for autonomy [
65,
66]. Rewards induce children to engage in the activity not for their own enjoyment but to earn the rewards. As a result, children feel pressured, disinterested, or disaffected [
67]. Furthermore, for activities that children find inherently interesting, receiving expected rewards leads to a decrement in intrinsic motivation. When reward contingencies are absent, spontaneous engagement in the activity decreases [
68].
This work nevertheless found that rewards are a popular and frequently used practice by parents. Therefore, the challenge is to teach parents how this practice can be used without controlling behavior with negative results. Introducing praise, helping parents to recognize feelings surrounding praise and the impact upon behavior, minimizing the predictability of rewards and not using promised rewards but only presenting them after the performance of the behavior, are examples used in the Teamplay intervention in which rewards are used in a positive way [
26].
Sedentary behavior
Since the prevention of overweight and obesity by limiting the amount of SB is a relatively new concept in literature and in public health messages, it was expected that most parents would not yet apply restrictions for SB. Indeed, in the current study some parents did not apply TV viewing rules because formal rules were not perceived as necessary (“my child is physically active enough”) or would cause the opposite effect (greater desire to watch TV).
Nevertheless, some parents do apply clear rules about TV time to limit the SB of their children. Rules provide structure to a child which meets the principles of SCT and the need of feeling competent according to SDT [
44]. In other studies, setting rules to limit TV time in general or during meals, has been associated with less screen time, less TV viewing or computer use, and less SB in general [
69]. Finally, offering children alternative activities with as much choice as possible, can prevent them from watching TV or other screen-time in an autonomy-supporting (SDT) and problem solving way (SCT) [
42,
43]. But, although some parents reported they involve their children in household chores as an alternative for screen-time, this seems to be challenging for other parents. Especially in times of stress, parents take the view that they can do household chores better and faster if they do them themselves without in involving their child [
70]. How parents can truly engage their children in realistic home-based alternatives to screen time will be an interesting challenge for future interventions.
Healthy diet
Within the use of rules in eating practices, one has to distinguish rules about snacking and soft drinks from rules about the amount of food to be eaten. About the effectiveness of applying these types of rules, inconclusive results were found in the group discussions. Some parents apply strict rules about how much and when to consume soft drinks whilst others do not apply rules because they are more concerned about their child not drinking sufficiently than about the type of drinks that is consumed. The study of Haerens et al. [
71], showed that a lack of family rules related to unhealthy food products was associated with higher fat intake in boys. In girls, lack of food rules was further related to lower levels of fruit intake. Additionally, in the study of Pearson et al. [
72], family rules were positively associated with children’s fruit and vegetable consumption. Finally, the use of clear rules to limit a child’s consumption of unhealthy food products, provides structure to a child (SCT) and the need of feeling competent (SDT) [
44].
Concerning rules about the amount of food that has to be eaten, some parents ensure that their child eats enough healthy food by obliging him/her to eat a certain amount of every served nutritional product. Other parents stated they never oblige their child to eat a certain amount of food, since their own consumption also depends on a varying appetite. According to literature, rules on the amount of food that has to be eaten, teach children to obey and respect rules rather than learning self-control in their eating habits [
73]. Studies proved that such coercive or controlling feeding practices in which the parent, rather than the child, makes decisions about how much the child should eat, are ineffective. When parents control their child’s eating, it undermines the child’s natural ability to respond to its own internal hunger and satiety cues, thus establishing maladaptive patterns of eating [
44,
74]. Consequently, the concepts of SDT to actively support the child’s capacity to be self-initiating and autonomous are not fulfilled [
62].
On the other hand, when parents apply a ‘tasting rule’ which means that the child just tries the food but then has the choice whether or not to finish what is on his/her plate, this can also be seen as providing structure to a child (which fits to both SCT and SDT [
44,
61]). Furthermore, just tasting will not take away a child’s feeling of hunger and therefore does not undermine the child’s natural ability to respond to its satiety feeling and does not subvert the human need to feel autonomous.
The importance of parental food intake and parental modeling on children’s healthy food consumption was both supported in the group discussions and in other qualitative work [
72,
75,
76]. According to SCT [
45], individuals learn behaviors by observing others. This observational learning is most prevailing when the person being observed is powerful, respected, or considered to be alike the observer. Furthermore, parental modeling fulfills the fundamental need of feeling related according to SDT [
41].
In the focus groups, many parents stated they use dessert as a reward for their child finishing his/her plate or for good behavior. In theory, SCT claims that moment-to-moment exchanges are crucial. Receiving an immediate reward for a behavior, enhances the chance that a child repeats the behavior [
44]. However, this concept cannot be applied to parenting practices for healthy eating because many results reported in literature show that rewarding with food is associated with more problematic eating behavior. Using food (usually sweets) as a reward is theorized to make that food more desirable and the food for which the child is rewarded when eating it less desirable [
77]. Also, the use of food for non-nutritive purposes, has been linked with a reduced ability to internally regulate one’s own feelings of hunger and satiety [
78]. This matches perfectly with the principles of SDT which proposes that rewarding people undermines intrinsic motivation and creates conditions for a net decline in motivation when rewards are subsequently withdrawn.
All the above makes clear that parents do not raise their children in a way that fits only one theory. Parents use a mix of parenting practices, which can be traced back to SDT ánd SCT. The information arising from this study will be used to inform the content of a randomized controlled trial consisting of a parenting intervention aimed at promoting a healthy diet, PA, and less SB in primary schoolchildren. Such an intervention should not push forward or SDT or SCT as the best theory to teach parents appropriate parenting practices. Better is to select the most feasible effective practices for parents from SDT and SCT and combine both theories. Therefore, the results of this study are an important source of information to integrate parents’ concerns, motivations and current habits, since they determine the success of a parenting program [
40].
Limitations
This study was subject to some limitations. Due to recruitment difficulties, focus groups were mostly conducted with less than the conventional group size of six to ten participants. Although the data demonstrated considerable convergence, other important information may be missed. Secondly, because of voluntary participation, only those parents who are most open to talk about the subject may have been recruited. Thirdly, our focus group research used self-reporting practices, which may have led to inconsistency with actual experiences or social desirability bias. Furthermore, responses to hypothetical situations may not fully represent the reality of parent–child communications. A last limitation is that SES was not used as a stratification/recruitment factor. By recruiting participants via their workplace, unemployed parents were not involved in the group discussions. That way, over-representation of parents with medium-high SES is possible. Furthermore, in this study differences between low and medium-high SES parents were not investigated, which is an important issue that can be included in future research. Taken the above mentioned limitations into account, as with most qualitative research, prudence is in order in generalizing our findings to all parents of primary schoolchildren.
Competing interests
Sara De Lepeleere is a recipient of a PhD-scholarship from the Flemish Agency for Care and Health (B/12732/01). Ann DeSmet, Maïté Verloigne, Greet Cardon and Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij have no financial disclosures. The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors’ contributions
SDL, AD, MV, GC and IDB developed the standardized protocol and the semi-structured questionnaire. SDL and AD conducted the focus group research in the different companies which included guiding the interviews, transcribing the audiotapes and conducting qualitative content analysis on the transcripts. SDL drafted the manuscript. All authors revised the article critically for important intellectual content and approved the final manuscript.