Mother-Daughter Relationship Influences on Daughters' Dietary Practices

Duke University, Durham NC

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Significance: Childhood obesity disproportionately impacts Black adolescent females. Forty-five percent of Black adolescent females meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overweight classification compared to only 27.6% of white females. Black adolescent girls have some of the highest rates of obesity-associated dietary practices, and mothers play an influential role. Mothers are often the providers and preparers of food, assume a primary role in the transmission of shared cultural understandings about food and body image, and have demonstrated an impact on daughters' food attitudes, body size norms, and dietary and activity practices. However, understanding how mothers specifically influence daughters' attitudes and practices, especially those associated with diet, remains limited. Purpose: The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between Black mothers and adolescent daughters and examine how the relationship might contribute to the daughter's dietary practices. Methods: A multi-method, multiple case study design will be used to recruit 16 Black mother-daughter pairs from a childhood primary care clinic in North Carolina. Multicase study will permit an in- depth, person-oriented exploration of the mother-daughter relationship and its link to dietary practices. Multi-method data sources will include semi-structured interviews with mothers and daughters, mother and daughter diary entries, and mother and daughter self-report measures of dietary intake, relationship quality, communication, household food purchasing and preparation, and household social environment. Summary: This study is the initial step to understanding the impact of the mother-daughter relationship on dietary practices among Black adolescent girls and how it contributes to the development of obesity. Findings will help pave the way to developing a new generation of obesity interventions needed among minority youth.