Food Fussiness in Children Relationship With Dietary Diversity, Eating Behaviors, and Parental Feeding Practices Among 3-to 5-Year-Olds

Abstract

This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the relationship between children's food fussiness (FF) and dietary diversity, eating behaviors, and parental feeding practices among 314 Cypriot preschoolers aged 3 to 5 years and their parents. Fussy eaters showed negative eating behaviors in general (P < .05). The mean scores of prompting and encouragement to eat were significantly higher among non-fussy eaters (P < .05). Food fussiness scores were negatively correlated with dietary diversity scores (r(s) = -0.178, P < .05) and positively correlated with parental emotional feeding (r(s) = 0.114, P < .05). In addition, strictly controlled feeding was positively associated with FF scores (beta: .115; 95% confidence interval: 0.041-0.251) and each unit increment in instrumental feeding decreased the risk of FF by 90% (odds ratio: 0.104; 95% confidence interval: 0.037-0.295). Longitudinal studies with larger samples are needed to confirm these correlations through parent-child intervention study designs.