Parental Nutrition Style and Quality of Life in Obese and Underweight Boys and Girls in Zahedan City

The influence of parents, including feeding style, through changing food consumption habits, can play an important role in the prevention or occurrence of diseases in children, and generally affects their quality of life. Therefore, the aim of this study is assessing the relationship between parental nutrition style and quality of life in children.
In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 246 parents along with their children were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling from primary schools in Zahedan. Parental Feeding Styles Questionnaire (PFSQ) and Pediatrics' Quality of Life Questionnaire (PedsQL) were used to collect data. The validities of the questionnaires were 0.74 and 0.84, respectively. Data were analyzed by SPSS V.22 software. Spearman correlation test, Independent-Samples T-test, and One-Way ANOVA were used to analyze data.
Among the different levels of parental nutrition style, the mean of encouragement to eat (30.10±4.20) was the highest and the mean of instrumental feeding was the lowest (15.4±2.88). Moreover, the total mean of children's quality of life was 78.13±9.45 which shows a high quality of life in children. A significant relationship was also found between children's quality of life and two nutritional styles of parents, such as emotional feeding (r=0.168, p<0.05) and instrumental feeding (r=0.194, p<0.05).
Based on the findings, children's quality of life had positive relationships with parental nutrition style, especially emotional and instrumental feeding. Accordingly, all families are encouraged to choose an appropriate eating style, promote healthy food consumption among children, and improve their quality of life.