The role of parenting styles and parents’ needs for support in overweight prevention and treatment.: a qualitative exploration
Almost one in seven Dutch children are overweight. Consequently many overweight interventions have been developed and investigated. However, empirical evidence still lacks regarding parental needs for support in reducing overweight. In this article we report about an investigation focusing on these needs. Eighteen native parents and parents of minority groups were interviewed in Spring 2009. While most parents had sufficient knowledge about healthy nutrition and physical activity, some acted poor in prevention. Some parents make choices that actually increased the risk of overweight in their children. The children of permissive parents, who did not set rules, had an increased risk for overweight. The interviewed parents of children with an average or slightly above average weight reported no expected risks for overweight. Parents of children with overweight who questioned their own ability to solve the overweight problem, asked for support in changing their parenting style. Those parents had a permissive parenting style, and wanted to perform more effectively. Some parents, who tried to raise their children healthy, experienced negative family influences. However, they did not express any need for support in managing those influences. The results of this study suggest that parental styles influence the effectiveness of interventions. Interventions for parents with a permissive parenting style would probably be more effective when the intervention was focused on changing the parental habits.