Association of fathers' feeding practices and feeding style on preschool age children's diet quality, eating behavior and body mass index

Overall, the findings revealed that a father's feeding practices and feeding style are not associated with children's diet quality or weight status. However, child eating behaviors are associated with child BMI z-score and these relationships are moderated by paternal feeding practices. For example, child satiety responsiveness is inversely (β = −.421, p = 0.031) associated with child BMI z-score only if paternal restriction scores are high. This relationship is not significant when paternal restriction scores are low (β = −.200, p = 0.448). These results suggest that some child appetitive traits may be related to child weight status when exposed to certain paternal feeding practices. Future studies should consider the inclusion of fathers as their feeding practices and feeding style may be related to a child's eating behavior.