Descriptive Analyses of Pediatric Food Refusal: The Structure of Parental Attention

• Published in: Behavior modification Vol. 34; no. 1; pp. 35 - 56
• Main Authors: Woods, Julia N., Borrero, John C., Laud, Rinita B., Borrero, Carrie S. W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-01-2010; Sage Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Analysis of Variance; Attention; Behavior Modification; Behavior Problems; Biological and medical sciences; Case Studies; Child; Child Behavior; Child clinical studies; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Eating behavior disorders; Eating Habits; Feeding and Eating Disorders - psychology; Feeding and Eating Disorders - therapy; Feeding Behavior - psychology; Female; Food; Health behavior; Humans; Infant; Male; Meals; Measurement; Medical sciences; Observation; Observer Variation; Parent Child Relationship; Parent-Child Relations; Parents; Parents & parenting; Probability; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Statistical Analysis; Variance analysis; Young Children; pediatric feeding disorders; attention; lag sequential analysis; descriptive analysis; Human; Preschool age; Parental behavior; Attention; Infant; Cognition; Eating disorder; Refusal; Sequential analysis; School age; Family environment; Child
• ISSN: 0145-4455; 1552-4167
• DOI: 10.1177/0145445509355646

Mealtime observations were conducted and occurrences of appropriate and inappropriate mealtime behavior and various forms of parental attention (e.g., coaxing, reprimands) were recorded for 25 children admitted to an intensive feeding program and their parents. Using the data from the observations, lag sequential analyses were conducted to identify changes in the probability of child appropriate and inappropriate mealtime behavior before and after various forms of parental attention. A combination of univariate and repeated measures ANOVAs using frequency of child behavior were also conducted to corroborate conclusions drawn from the visual analysis of individual participant data. Results showed that parental attention was frequently followed by temporary decreases in inappropriate mealtime behavior and increases in bite acceptance. Moreover, various forms of parental attention resulted in statistically significant changes in child behavior, which supports the clinical utility of these data.