Question 3
What are possible explanations for the lack of significant differences in disordered eating attitudes between the two intervention groups also between the control group and the intervention groups?
posted by Rose M @ 7:25 PM
14 comments
14 Comments:
Parents are involved in both intervention groups and the children are fairly young. That being said, the parents probably played a vital role in these interventions because of their children's age. The parents are still doing the shopping and cooking for their children, thus the children are eating what their parents provide for them. The parents play a vital role in their children's dietary intake and therefore would most likely dictate what takes place in the interventions, as well.
Even though one of the intervention groups included only the child and not their parents, it makes sense that there were not significant differences compared to the family approached intervention. My thought is that the children in both intervention groups received similar treatment (behavior modification) and regardless of if their parents were included or not, the material was the same. However, I would think that the parent is also receiving the same information in both groups and therefore has a large part in what their child eats for meals/snacks. The children are young enough that their parents are likely the ones making their meals and purchasing the food. They are also old enough to absorb information and I would also think that the intervention efforts appear to be successful based on the results.
There are several reasons that the differences weren't significant, but I agree with Liz. The children studied are at an age where they are still very dependent upon their parents. They rely on what their parents prepare for them to eat. Melanie brings up a good point, perhaps the parents still absorbed intervention information even if they were not included in the intervention themselves. This could have resulted in inadvertent behavior modification.
Parents and children participating in the study may have different opinions on what defines a disordered eating habit so frequency of disorderd eating habits may not be revealed. Parents with disordered eating habits may not want to admit that their child has a disordered eating habit.
Sandi G
I believe that there was no significant difference between the two types of interventions, because parents were involved in both. Children this age are not the ones buying or preparing their food. Therefore, it shows the importance of parents' nutrition knowledge and the role that they play in their child's eating habits. The fact that all the data was self-reported may also play a role in the lack of significant differences.
I think there was a lack in significant differences because in both groups the parents were involved. The parents are going to be the ones grocery shopping, preparing meals, keeping food journals, and reinforcing their children’s behaviors. The kids will be exposed to these healthy habits via the parents with the parents-only group and they will be exposed to those habits on their own with the family group. Either way, the parents are responsible for making sure those habits are sustained. Meredith, you bring up a good point about the self-reported data. If the parents want to come off as being more responsible and sticking to these healthy habits, then they may falsify their responses to make them appear that way, which would also diminish the differences.
I am going to have to agree with everyone and say I am not surprised there was no significant difference in the disordered eating attitudes between the groups. Parents are definitely going to have the most control of what their child is eating, even at school and since the parents were involved in both groups then it makes sense why both groups had similar outcomes. I think there would be different findings if this same study were to be done on older children where eating is a little more self controlled and the parents were involved but surveyed separately. That way they could compare the parents opinion and the child's opinion on disordered eating. To me, these results would be quite interesting.
I think Sandi makes a valid point that a parent's attitude on disordered eating is most likely going to be different than their child's. Especially with this young of a population so most of the outcomes were probably parent driven information rather than the child's which again could explain the lack of significant difference between the groups. Again, I think it would be interesting to take the parents out of the equation and just test the children. I think the results would be quite different. I also agree 100 percent with Sandi that many parents don't want to admit that there would be anything wrong with their child, especially when it comes to something so instinctive as eating, so this too could be why the outcomes were so similar. The answers could have been driven by what the parents think are appropriate eating habits and not what their child is actually doing.
I would guess that a possible explanation for the lack of sig. differences between groups would be that the parents are still getting the intervention in both groups and they are the ones that are the driving force behind making changes like these. They shop for and cook the food and also have control over how often they let their child have screen time so they most likely would make the same changes after each intervention.
I think children are very much affected by their parents' affective and physical relationships with food. In all three groups (2 intervention and control), the parents were the ones procuring and preparing the foods for the children, and leading by example what relationships with food "should" look like.
Sandi, excellent point! The types of parents who would agree to participate in these studies are probably the ones who are educated about the effects of overwt/poor nutrition. These parents are also probably familiar with what disordered eating patterns look like, and no parent wants to admit/declare their child is exhibiting those signs.
Many seem to agree the parental involvement among the two intervention groups yielded similar results. Most eating habits (among many habits) develop at home where these kids are dependent upon their parents for groceries, cooking, and as role models. The parental involvement in the interventions probably helped the children shape their behavior as they are dependent upon their parents in many ways, but also the parents may have shaped their behavior to aid in the process.
It appears as though I agree entirely with Melanie and Liz. Dependence among the parents for biological needs as well as viewing parents as role models affects the bulk of a child's behavior. This is a logical explanation for similar results among the two intervention groups.
Sandi:
I didn't think about the fact that some parents may be in denial if their child did have disordered eating patterns and they would not want to admit it. That's a great point.
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