Relationships among parental stress, child diet quality, and child weight status, in children with autism spectrum disorder: a pilot study
Date
2021
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting communication, social interactions and behaviors of children. Approximately one in 54 children in the United States children are diagnosed with ASD. Parents of children with ASD express more parental stress (PS) compared to parents of children with typical development (TD), and elevated PS has been shown to negatively impact child diet quality and child weight status. Moreover, children with ASD commonly experience problematic food behaviors, resulting in consumption of limited diets. The goal of this project was to investigate the relationships among parental stress, child diet quality, and child weight status in children with ASD compared to children with TD. ☐ The data presented in this thesis are part of a larger, ongoing study entitled “Parental Stress, Parental Feeding Styles and Child Nutrient Intake Among Families of Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder”. This cross-sectional study requires one visit to the Energy Balance and Nutrition Laboratory at the University of Delaware, or a mutually agreed upon location, to complete several questionnaires and measures. The Parenting Stress Index Questionnaire-Short Form (PSI-SF) was used to assess parental stress; a 3-day food record was used to capture food/beverage intake; the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) score was used to assess diet quality; and anthropometric measurements of weight and height were used to assess child weight status. To date, this study has enrolled 30 children ≥3 and <7 years old, 10 with ASD and 20 with TD. We found no significant differences in demographic characteristics of participants with ASD compared to participants with TD. The mean Total Stress percentile (mean +/- SD: ASD=67.6 +/- 23.8; TD=36.3 +/- 25.4; p<0.05) and percentiles for the Parental Distress, Parent-Child Dysfunction, and Difficult Child subscale were higher in parents of children with ASD compared to parents of children with TD. We did not find a significant association between the parent stress total/subscale percentiles and diet quality scores, nor did we find a significant association between parent stress total/subscale percentiles and child weight status measures, or between child diet quality scores and measures of child weight status. The lack of significant findings is likely related to the small sample size. The results presented are preliminary and will be reassessed upon completion of the target enrollment of 30 children with ASD and 30 children with TD.
Description
Keywords
Parental Stress, Child diet, Diet quality, Child weight, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Typical Development, Neurodevelopmental disorder