Despite their increasing role in childrearing, scientific interest in the influence of fathers on children's nutrition and physical development has remained noticeably lacking. For decades, research has focused exclusively on the "mother's role" and its impact on children's health and eating habits.
A research review published in 2014 found that studies on parental influence on children's eating habits were scarce, with no more than 20 studies covering small samples of well-educated parents. Most of these studies reported unverified findings, such as that pressuring children to eat is a strategy often adopted by fathers, and that they are less likely to monitor children's eating or overeating than mothers.
Parents and Childhood Obesity
In 2014, a study conducted by the American Psychological Association, which included more than 2,700 children, concluded that "fathers can influence their children's nutrition as much as, or perhaps more than, mothers," after researchers found that "girls whose fathers overeaten were more likely to overeat."
In the same year, research on parents' influence on their children's relationship with food and body image showed that fathers may be more likely than mothers to pressure children to eat or not eat certain foods in certain quantities.
A Canadian study published in 2016 also found that fathers are the primary influence on young children's nutrition, more so than mothers. An analysis conducted by two Yale University researchers revealed that parents with eating disorders exhibit greater concern about their children's weight and greater control over their feeding habits.
This was confirmed by another study conducted by Yale University in 2018, which included 658 parents. It showed that "fathers have both implicit and explicit disapproval of childhood obesity, and are more likely than mothers to use negative language directed at children who are obese."
Parental influence may be unintentional.
“There's a common misconception that men don't care about eating disorders and don't care about body image,” Jacqueline Siegel, a social psychologist at San Diego State University, tells The Atlantic .
She gave the example of a father whose passion for home gardening led him to speak in a humorous, but almost preachy, tone about good and bad foods; something like, "Don't eat that pizza, don't eat too many sweets; it'll make you fat."
Kyle Janson, a specialist in eating disorders in boys and men at the University of Toronto, surprised the newspaper by saying, "When a father pushes his child to achieve a certain expected level in sports, he doesn't realize that this could lead to the child developing an eating disorder."
The father's influence begins at a very early age.
“If mothers are the goalposts for children’s nutrition, fathers are the kickers,” says Dr. Adam Walsh, a lecturer in nutrition at Australia’s Deakin University, describing the difference between the nutritional influence of mothers and fathers on children.
This follows research conducted in late 2017, which showed that parents may not realize the impact their behaviors have on children's nutrition in their early development. "Children as young as 20 months old begin to consume snacks, convenience foods, and sweetened drinks, just like their parents do."
Canadian researchers have previously pointed out that "malnutrition and poor eating habits in children at an early age can lead to long-term health problems, such as diabetes, cancer, and heart disease."
Walsh explained that these effects may increase as the child gets older, adding that even fathers who don't cook or participate in meal preparation have an indirect impact on their children's nutrition, "because children see their father's likes and dislikes as role models to follow."
The most important forms of parental influence on children's nutrition
A systematic review published in 2020 showed that parents' influence on children's nutrition takes many forms, the most important of which are:
- Child's BMI was positively associated with father's BMI, confirming the results of a study published in 2015.
- A child's eating pattern develops under the influence of the father's dietary pattern, a finding previously found by Dr. Walsh and confirmed in a research article published in 2022.
- Dr. Alex McIntosh , a sociology professor at the University of Texas, notes that "the more time parents spend in fast-food restaurants, the more likely children are to go there."
- Parenting style may influence a child's eating behavior. Macintosh notes that "children whose parents are more authoritarian are more likely to eat fast food."
- “The harmonious role of mothers and fathers leads to optimal child eating behavior,” a Cambridge University research paper previously noted .
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