OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship between the eating behavior of children aged 1-3 years and parental feeding behavior and the effect of family status on feeding behavior.

METHODSWith stratified random sampling, 2 324 children aged 1-3 years were selected from Shanghai. Questionnaires were filled out by their parents or feeders to investigate the basic family information, parental feeding behavior, the eating behavior of children, and the basic information on children.

RESULTSThe eating behavior of children was positively correlated with eating environment (r=0.223) and parental monitoring behavior (r=0.245) but negatively correlated with parental compulsive behavior (r=-0.264) (P<0.01). Moreover, the food preferences of children were negatively correlated with parental compulsive behavior (r=-0.569) but positively correlated with parental monitoring behavior (r=0.615) and eating environment (r=0.621). The emotional undereating of children was positively correlated with parental emotional feeding (r=0.259) and parental compulsive behavior (r=0.279). Parental monitoring behavior showed significant differences between different families (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSParental feeding behavior is closely related to the eating behavior of children. Parental feeding behavior may vary across different family status.