Executive Function, Eating Competence, and the Feeding Relationship in Parents of Preschool-Aged Children

Abstract

Importance: The Satter Division of Responsibility in Feeding (sDOR) is a commonly-used feeding framework to establish healthy eating and feeding relationships in preschool-aged children. Eating competence is positively associated with adherence to the sDOR. Both eating competence and adherence to the sDOR require executive functioning skills but little is known about the relationship between executive functioning, eating competence, and adherence to the sDOR. Objective: The primary aim of this study is to test whether parental executive function is related to eating competence and/or adherence to the sDOR. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 40 participants completed the Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale (BDEFS), Satter Eating Competence Inventory (ecSI 2.0TM), Satter Division of Responsibility in Feeding Inventory for 2- to 6-year-olds (sDOR.2-6yTM), the 10-Item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), and completed short answer questions about the family meal experience. Correlations between survey totals were calculated using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Qualitative themes were compiled from short-answer responses. Results: There was a moderate negative correlation between aggregate BDEFS scores and aggregate ecSI 2.0TM scores (rs = -0.488, p-value = 0.001), a strong correlation between aggregate BDEFS scores and aggregate PSS-10 scores (rs = 0.816, p-value < 0.001), and a moderate negative correlation between aggregate sDOR.2-6yTM scores and aggregate PSS-10 scores (rs = -0.468, p-value = 0.003). Conclusions: While we were able to show a relationship between executive function and eating competence, further research is necessary to ascertain if there is a relationship between executive function and adherence to the sDOR because our sample did not contain enough variety in executive functioning abilities to draw any conclusions about this relationship.