Abstract Grandparents are playing an increasingly important role in shaping the nutrition environment and eating behaviours of their grandchildren. Yet, research assessing the various feeding practices of grandparents and the association between grandparents’ engagement in these practices and the nutritional quality of the food consumed by their grandchild is limited. Accordingly, the present study (i) examined the feeding practices of grandparents who report providing childcare to their grandchildren, (ii) developed and tested a model linking the various practices of grandparent caregivers to the frequency with which their grandchildren consume healthy and unhealthy foods while in grandparental care, and (iii) explored the socio-demographic predictors of engagement in feeding practices. An online survey was administered to grandparents who reported providing regular care to at least one grandchild aged 3–14 years (n = 1076, 60% female, average age = 65.07 years, SD = 6.68). Grandparents reported using positive feeding practices more frequently than negative feeding practices. The developed model provided a good fit to the data and accounted for 16% of the variance in vegetable consumption, 15% in fruit consumption, 37% in savoury snack consumption, 23% in sweet snack consumption, and 35% in sugary drink consumption. Positive feeding practices were identified as being more important correlates of diet quality than negative feeding practices, with the provision of a healthy food environment and limit setting found to be associated with favourable dietary behaviours. Results suggest that grandparents should be considered important stakeholders in the promotion of healthy eating and targeted in policies and programs addressing children’s diet and obesity.

中文翻译：

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儿童饮食质量：祖父母喂养习惯的作用？

摘要 祖父母在塑造孙辈的营养环境和饮食行为方面发挥着越来越重要的作用。然而，评估祖父母的各种喂养方式以及祖父母参与这些实践与其孙辈所消费食物的营养质量之间的关联的研究是有限的。因此，本研究 (i) 调查了报告为孙辈提供托儿服务的祖父母的喂养做法，(ii) 开发并测试了一个模型，将祖父母照顾者的各种做法与其孙辈食用健康和不健康食品的频率联系起来，同时在祖父母的照顾中，以及 (iii) 探索了参与喂养实践的社会人口统计学预测因素。一项在线调查针对报告至少为 3-14 岁孙子女提供定期护理的祖父母（n = 1076，60% 为女性，平均年龄 = 65.07 岁，SD = 6.68）。祖父母报告说使用积极的喂养方法比消极的喂养方法更频繁。开发的模型对数据提供了很好的拟合，并占蔬菜消费方差的 16%、水果消费方差的 15%、咸味零食消费的 37%、甜食消费的 23% 和含糖饮料消费的 35%。积极的喂养方式被确定为比消极的喂养方式更重要的饮食质量相关性，提供健康的食物环境和限制设置与有利的饮食行为有关。