| dc.description.abstract | Abstract: Parental feeding style influences the
nutritional status, growth, development,
health and survival of preschool children. The
objective of this study was to describe the
parental feeding styles in selected preschools
in a semi-urban setting in Sri Lankan context.
A descriptive cross-sectional study was
conducted among randomly selected 306
parent-preschooler pairs in selected
preschools in Ibbagamuwa Divisional
Secretariat in Kurunegala district. Validated,
interviewer administered, 27-item, Parental
Feeding Style Questionnaire (PFSQ) on a five
point Likert scale was used to assess four
common feeding styles: Encouragement to Eat
(EE), Control over Eating (CE), Emotional
Feeding (EF) and Instrumental Feeding (IF).
Mean scores were calculated for each scale
which had a possible range between 1-5 with
higher scores indicating a tendency for a
particular feeding style. All data were
analyzed using SPSS version 25. The mean age
of the parents was 34.86 years (SD=4.93). The
majority were mothers (N=250, 81.7%)
educated up to Ordinary Level (N=117,
38.2%) with an average monthly income
between Rs.30, 000-50,000 (N=133, 43.5%).
The mean age was 58.06 months (SD=7.62).
Majority were girls (N=164, 53.6%) with
normal weight for height (50.0%, N=153).
Mean scores for each feeding style were EE:
4.25 (SD=0.55), CE: 3.2 (SD=0.61), EF: 2.76
(SD=0.92) and IF: 2.35 (SD=0.78). Prominent
parental feeding styles were Encouragement
to Eat and Control over Eating. No gender
differences were observed in parental feeding
styles. | en_US |
