Promoting Food Acceptance Through Positive Parenting: the Play and Grow Study

NCT ID: NCT06074926

Last Updated: 2024-08-27

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 50 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2023-10-30
• Study Completion Date: 2024-08-01

Brief Summary

Approximately one half of adults and one-fifth of children have obesity, including 14% of 2-5-year-olds. Early obesity prevention is essential as children who are overweight by age 5 are at increased risk for later obesity. Dietary intake is inextricably linked to weight status, and the majority of young children fail to meet intake recommendations, with socioeconomically disadvantaged and racial/ethnic minority children at increased risk of poor diet quality. However, children's liking of healthier foods predicts their intake, and children can learn to like healthier foods via experience. The current study brings together evidence from the parenting and learning literatures to: 1) examine effects of a novel learning strategy leveraging positive parent-child interactions on 3-5-year-old children's vegetable acceptance and dietary intake, as well as to explore 2) individual differences in learning strategy effects.

Detailed Description

Repeated exposure, in which children taste a target food across several occasions, is an effective strategy for increasing children's acceptance and intake of healthier foods. An alternative strategy that may be preferable for those less likely to try unfamiliar or disliked foods is associative conditioning. This refers to changes in one's response to a target food after it is repeatedly, concurrently paired with an unconditioned stimulus - typically another food - that already has a positive valence. While evidence-based, this approach has the disadvantage of adding extra calories and exposure to less healthy foods.

Pilot data provided support for the hypothesis that non-food stimuli could be leveraged in conditioning strategies to promote healthier food acceptance. After pairing positive peer interactions (via group games) with tasting a target vegetable across 11 sessions, 6-8-year-old children's preferences for target vegetables increased at post-test. In considering application of this approach for younger children, positive parent-child interactions may be an appropriate non-food stimulus as parents are a primary social influence for this age group. Despite this, no studies to date have leveraged this positive stimulus in the context of associative conditioning paradigms designed to promote vegetable acceptance. Additionally, although other food preference learning approaches, like repeated exposure, are well-established in the experimental literature, less is known regarding individual differences impacting intervention effectiveness.

The current study seeks to examine effects of a novel learning strategy leveraging positive parent-child interactions on 3-5-year-old children's vegetable acceptance and dietary intake, as well as to explore individual differences in learning strategy effects. Findings will inform future intervention work, as well as offer insight into potential behavioral factors influencing young children's diet and health.

Conditions

Obesity, Childhood; Overweight, Childhood; Overnutrition; Pediatric Obesity; Eating, Healthy

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Group 1 - Intervention

Participants will attend two laboratory visits and complete a 3-week intervention, which consists of interactive parent-child activities (\~45 min of interactive activities/week) that pair tasting an assigned target vegetable with positive parent-child interactions. Positive interactions will be promoted via positive parenting prompts embedded in the activity instructions (e.g., prompts promoting child-directed play).

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Associative Conditioning

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

There will be 3 planned activities per week (9 total) within play kits provided to families. Children will first taste their assigned target vegetable and then complete an activity with their parent following provided instructions. Activity instructions will include positive parenting skills adapted from evidence-based parenting programs (i.e., Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and Triple-P) designed to promote positive parent-child interactions.

Group 2 - Control

Participants will attend the same two laboratory visits and complete a 3-week intervention, which consists of only individual taste exposures to their target vegetable.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Repeated Exposure

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

There will be 3 planned exposures per week (9 total). Exposures will include only individual tastes of the child's assigned target vegetable.

Interventions

Associative Conditioning

There will be 3 planned activities per week (9 total) within play kits provided to families. Children will first taste their assigned target vegetable and then complete an activity with their parent following provided instructions. Activity instructions will include positive parenting skills adapted from evidence-based parenting programs (i.e., Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and Triple-P) designed to promote positive parent-child interactions.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Repeated Exposure

There will be 3 planned exposures per week (9 total). Exposures will include only individual tastes of the child's assigned target vegetable.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Child is 3-5 years old
• Parent/ guardian is 18 years of age or older
• Child is not diagnosed with a serious physical or mental health condition that precludes safe participation
• Parent and child are English speaking

Exclusion Criteria

• The child is outside the age range of 3-5 years
• Child is diagnosed with a serious physical or mental health condition that precludes participation
• Parent/ guardian is less than 18 years of age

• Minimum Eligible Age: 3 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 5 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

State University of New York at Buffalo

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Stephanie Anzman-Frasca

Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Stephanie Anzman-Frasca, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

State University of New York at Buffalo

Locations

State University of New York at Buffalo

Buffalo, New York, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

STUDY00007145

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id