Maternal Behavioral Determinants and Child Dietary Quality in Latino Families

• Main Author: Gonzalez, Citlalli R.
• Language: EN
• Published: California State University, Long Beach 2018
• Subjects: Health sciences|Nutrition|Public health
• Online Access: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10784465

<p> The purpose of this study was to conduct a secondary analysis to examine the association between the change from baseline to follow-up in Latino mothers&rsquo; self-reported nutrition knowledge, self-efficacy, intentions, food label use, and role modeling from baseline to follow-up with their reports of children&rsquo;s dietary intake measured at follow-up. Data were obtained from from Sanos y Fuertes, a culturally-tailored community-based nutrition education intervention. The participants were Latino mothers and their children ages 2 to 8 years old. A dietary quality scoring system was created using food frequency data. To account for reported frequencies, five set points were created to define criteria for high dietary quality. Logistic regression tests were conducted for the five set points. The change in nutrition knowledge (<i>p</i> = .019) and role modeling (<i>p</i> = .034) of the mothers significantly predicted probability of higher child dietary quality at follow-up. Findings suggest the need for interventions that focus on increasing parental dietary knowledge while emphasizing the importance of role modeling. Further research is needed to explore cultural-related dietary differences between Latinos and non-Latinos.</p><p>