Associations between parental feeding practices and child vegetable consumption. Mediation by child cognitions?

• We examine relations between parental feeding practices and child vegetable intake.
• Feeding practices are directly and indirectly related to child vegetable intake.
• Our results contribute to the understanding of parent–child feeding interactions.

The present study aimed to explore the process in which parental food-related behaviors might influence preadolescent children’s vegetable consumption, addressing potential mediating effects of child cognitions. Cross-sectional surveys were performed among 10–12-year-olds and their parents. The child questionnaire included measures of vegetable consumption and child cognitions related to vegetable consumption (i.e. attitudes, social influence, self-efficacy and intention). The parent questionnaire included measures of parental feeding practices adapted from the Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire. Stepwise regressions were performed to reveal potential mediating effects of child cognitions on the associations between parental feeding practices and child vegetable consumption. Our results suggested a mediating effect of child self-efficacy on the association between parental restrictive behavior and child vegetable consumption. Other potential mediating effects were not supported in this study.