Objective: This study was conducted to determine whether parents' restriction of young girls' access to palatable foods promotes the consumption of those foods while evoking negative self-evaluation.
Design: Girls' intake of 10 snack foods was measured immediately following a standard lunch, in a setting with free access to palatable snack foods. Girls' self-evaluation about their eating was assessed following the free access snack session. In addition, reports of parental restriction were obtained from mothers, fathers, and girls.
Participants: Participants were 197 girls aged 4.6 to 6.4 years and their parents.
Statistical analysis: Structural equation modeling was used to test models describing relationships between parents' restriction and girls' eating.
Results: Following the standard lunch, girls' snack food intake during the 10-minute free access session ranged from 0 to 436 kcal, with a mean of 123 +/- 7 kcal. Approximately half of the girls reported negative self-evaluation about eating 1 or more of the 10 foods provided. The revised path model indicated that parents' restriction predicted both girls' snack food intake and girls' negative self-evaluation of eating. Girls' negative self-evaluation of eating was not associated with the amount of food that they consumed when not hungry, but was linked to their perceptions of being restricted from those foods.
Applications/conclusions: These findings indicate that restricting young girls' access to palatable foods may promote the intake of restricted foods and may also generate negative feelings about eating restricted foods.