Self-Efficacy of Parents of Boys in Sports Clubs on Meal Preparation and Boys' Dietary Intake: A Cross-Sectional Study of Soccer Clubs

This study examined the relationship between parents' self-efficacy for preparing meals combining the five food groups (grains, fish and meat, vegetables, milk, and fruits) and the dietary intake of their children who were elementary and junior high school students belonging to a sports club. A total of 365 children completed a self-reported dietary intake form, and their parents completed a questionnaire on self-efficacy for preparing meals combining the five food groups. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess the relationship between the children's intake of the combined five food groups and parents' self-efficacy score, with frequency of meals combining the five food groups as the dependent variable and the self-efficacy score as the independent variable. In a multivariate logistic regression analysis that was higher self-efficacy scores were associated with a higher frequency of meals that contained all five food groups, with an odds ratio of 1.06 (95% confidence interval: 1.00-1.12; p=0.036). Significant positive correlations were also found between parents' self-efficacy and the number of times children consumed four food types (fish and meat, vegetables, milk, and fruits) at breakfast and three food types (grains, milk, and fruits) at dinner. These findings suggest that parents' self-efficacy for preparing meals combining the five food groups was associated with the number of meals with all five food groups consumed by their children, who were fifth and sixth graders in elementary and junior high school and belonged to sports clubs.