An examination of the relationship between perceived parenting style and the eating behaviors of college freshmen.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Unhealthy eating behavior is one of the priority health risk behaviors leading the causes of morbidity and mortality among adolescents and college students. A key component in understanding the influences of adolescent eating behaviors is the social environment, of which parents are a critical component. The literature suggests that the probability of engaging in health risk-behaviors is lessened by parental presence and authoritative parenting practices. Similarly, it has been hypothesized that the use of authoritative parenting practices may result in healthier eating among adolescents by allowing children to develop general self-control skills. However, the relationship between parenting style and adolescent eating behavior has not been well studied.
This study investigated the association between perceived parenting style and the eating behaviors of college freshmen. It used a cross-sectional, Internet-based survey to obtain data from 264 college freshmen between the ages of 18 to 20, enrolled at the University of South Florida. Multiple regression was used to investigate the association between parenting style and healthy eating.
Although previous studies suggest a relationship between parenting style and healthy eating exists during early adolescence, this study's findings suggest that parenting style is not a strong predictor of healthy eating during late adolescence. Future research should continue to address the impact of familial influences as one point of intervention to increase adolescents' consumption of healthy foods.