The relationship between COVID-related parenting stress, nonresponsive feeding behaviors, and parent mental health

Abstract

COVID-19 has disrupted the lives of families across the United States and all over the world. Stress is known to have a negative impact on parent–child feeding interactions; hence, the purpose of this study is to examine how COVID-related parenting stress, which was measured using a newly developed scale, is related to parent mental health, nonresponsive feeding, and children’s self-regulation of eating. 119 parents of children ages 2–7 years old filled out questions about COVID-related parenting stress, mental health, nonresponsive feeding behaviors, and children’s self-regulation of eating. A series of multiple regressions were run to predict parent anxiety and psychological distress from COVID-related parenting stress. COVID-related parenting stress was found to be a significant predictor of both parent anxiety and psychological distress. When COVID-related parenting stress was further broken down into COVID-Related Job/Financial Security Stress and COVID-Related Family Safety/Stability Stress, COVID-Related Job/Financial Security Stress predicted psychological distress while COVID-Related Family Safety/Stability Stress predicted parent anxiety. Moderation analyses were also run to test the difference across the parents of children under 5 years of age and those of children who were 5 years of age and older regarding the association of COVID-related parenting stress and either parent anxiety or psychological distress. There was no significant difference across age. Lastly, COVID-related parenting stress and nonresponsive feeding practices were simultaneously entered into a multiple regression to predict children’s self-regulation of eating, and COVID-related parenting stress and parent distrust in appetite were both found to decrease children’s ability to self-regulate energy intake. Based on findings from this study, researchers interested in improving children’s self-regulation of eating and long-term health outcomes should continue to target the reduction of nonresponsive parent feeding behaviors, but they should also aim to look beyond specific parent feeding behaviors by attempting to help parents manage stressors in their lives. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-021-02333-y.