Maternal pressure to eat: Associations with maternal and child characteristics among 2-to 8-year-olds in Brazil

Maternal pressure for the child to eat may have counterproductive effects on child's eating behavior, such as impairing their ability to self-regulate intake and generating greater refusal of the pressured foods. Associated factors with this feeding practice are still poorly studied. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the use of pressure to eat by mothers and anthropometric, sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics of mothers and their children. Nine hundred and twenty seven mothers of 2-to-8-year-old children participated in the study. The maternal use of pressure to eat was measured using the Brazilian version of the Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire (CFPQ) along with supplementary questions on maternal responsibility and concern about child feeding and child weight status, and anthropometric and sociodemographic information. Data was analyzed using descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analyses. The final multivariate logistic regression model revealed that maternal use of pressure to eat was independently associated with maternal greater concern about the child eating too little when the mother was not around (OR = 2.40, p ≤ 0.001), and child (OR = 0.86, p = 0.008) and mother lower BMI weight (OR = 0.93, p = 0.001). The results found in this study point out to the importance of interventions in the routine of pediatric health services, directed to the maternal behavior of pressure for the child to eat. The actions should mainly consider maternal concerns about child feeding, and maternal and child weight status. These findings also contribute to the expansion of data in the literature on the factors associated with this food practice and for future research on the subject. The results found in this study are risk factors for maternal practice of pressure to eat and support the construction of new ways to deepen the knowledge of the subject in future research, such as the influence of mother and child weight and subjective aspects in the practice of pressure to eat.