Nonresponsive Parenting Feeding Styles and Practices and Risk of Overweight and Obesity among Chinese Children Living Outside Mainland China: An Integrative Review of the Literature

Abstract

Chinese immigrants are a fast-growing population group in many parts of the world. Childhood obesity is increasingly a public health problem among Chinese living outside mainland China. Evidence suggests that parenting feeding styles and practices critically influence children’s eating behaviors and risk of being overweight or obese. Therefore, the objectives of this review were to identify and synthesize the evidence from studies examining the associations between parenting feeding styles, feeding practices, and risk of overweight and obesity among children of Chinese parents outside mainland China. A systematic search of four electronic databases (CINAHL, Medline, PsycINFO, and PubMed) was conducted to identify peer-reviewed studies published in English between January 2000 and March 2022. Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. Findings of some of the reviewed studies showed that parenting feeding styles and practices varied according to children’s age, gender, weight, and parents’ acculturation levels. The two most identified parenting feeding styles were indulgent and authoritarian. Parents classified as having indulgent and/or authoritarian feeding styles reported using several feeding practices with unintended detrimental effects, such as pressuring children to eat and restricting or controlling child food intake (type and amount). Some of these feeding practices were associated with an increased risk of child overweight. The findings of this review provide important information that can inform the design interventions to address modifiable nonresponisve parental feeding practices such as pressuring, restricting, and controlling that meet the specific needs of Chinese parents and children outside mainland China.