Abstract:

Abstract This study aims to analyze the influence of the obesogenic environment and parental styles on the eating behavior of children and adolescents. This is a study with a quantitative approach, carried out in the first semester of 2017, with a sample recruited from two private schools with 272 middle class children and adolescents, from Campina Grande, in the state of Paraíba, Brazil. In 40% of cases, mothers and fathers were classified as negligent according to their children's assessment, as well as 50% of fathers were considered permissive, and always or almost always had ultra-processed foods at home. The highest average found in the subscale "Over emotional ingestion" were of children of permissive mothers (7.3) in relation to neglectful mothers (5.2; p = 0.01). The data suggest that parents may have a silent attitude in the process of modeling healthy eating behavior towards their children, and that even though parenting styles are important for the formation of their children's eating behavior, they are still not enough, because genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors are also important to understand it.

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