The U.S. toxic food environment has impacted the increased rates of childhood obesity and disordered eating patterns (Battle & Brownell, 1996), and prevention efforts are beginning to take an ecological approach to addressing these weight-based problems. Researchers have begun to discuss the importance of starting prevention efforts during infancy and early childhood (Flynn et al., 2006; Olstad & McCargar, 2008). Caregivers and parents have the most impact on child eating and activity levels during early development, but there is scarce research on ways to engage parents in programming. The present study used a qualitative design to investigate parents' experiences receiving, making meaning of, and applying sociocultural messages about children's health and nutrition. Individual interviews were conducted with parents from 16 very low-income Early Head Start families. Interview transcripts, field notes, documentary evidence, and follow-up participant checks were used during grounded theory analysis of the data (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). A theoretical model of parental movement toward action was developed that included (a) the culture and context influencing parents, (b) parents' sources of social and cultural messages, (c) parental attitude and engagement, (d) parental motivation for action, (e) intervening conditions impacting motivation and application, and (f) parent action taken on the individual and social levels. The categories and subcategories of the model are illustrated by narrative data. Implications for research, parent engagement, and prevention programming for weight-related problems in young children are discussed.

In the present study we examined parent participation in an extrafamilial context (Head Start) and the liunily and child development conditions that predicted such participation. Participants included 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds and their pa rents in the Northern Utah and Southeastern Idaho areas. The families were grouped according to the ch il d's previous Head Start ex peri ence: those who had received home-based services in year one followed by center-based services in the second year ( l-IB to CB); those who had received no services in year one and home-based services in year two (HB only); and those families who had recei ved no services in year one and cente r-based services in year two (CB only). Pa rent involvement was measured using the Family Involvement Questionnaire {FIQ) which measured parent involvement according to three ll1c tnrs: home-based involvement (II Bl), school-based involvement (SBJ), and home-school confcrcncing (1-lSC). The chil dren's development assessments included the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social-Fmotional Scale (ASQ:SE) and the Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning-Third Edition (DIAL 3). Through using the FIQ, this study investigated the predictors of the type and quantity of parental involvement using class grouping (l-IB to CB, l-IB only, & CB only), family demographics. and children's ASQ:SE, and DIAL 3 scores as independent variables. Our study revealed that even though the class grouping had no significant relation to parent involvement, there were a few independent variables that were beneficial in predicting parents' involvement. The most signi ficant finding was that the chi ld 's ASQ:SE score could be used to help predict the variance in both home-based involvement and school-based involvement acti vit ies. This study found that the higher the number of the ASQ:SE score, the parents were less likely to participate in home-based and school-based activities. Other interesting findings included that as the number or children increased, the amount of home-based parent involvement decreased. In addition to this, we found that if the parents were European-American and married, they were more likely to report being involved in home-school conferencing activities.

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Objective: To determine the impact of preschool teacher food-related attitudes and behaviors on child food behaviors. Design: A twelve-week intervention and observational study with teachers completing questionnaires before and after the intervention. Setting: Head Start classrooms throughout Virginia. Participants: 177 preschool Head Start teachers and 1534 children. Intervention(s): Food Friends, a twelve-week social marketing campaign, was conducted by Head Start teachers during the Spring 2007, introducing children to novel foods with food puppets, nutrition-related activities and novel food tasting opportunities. Hypotheses related to the impact of preschool teachers' food-related attitudes and behaviors on children's food behaviors were tested, and changes in teacher and child food behaviors were measured. Main Outcome Measures: Teacher food-related attitudes and behaviors were measured/quantified. Child food behaviors were measured and compared to teacher attitudes and behaviors. Analysis: Descriptive, correlational and t-test statistics were conducted. Results: Teachers' and children's acceptance of novel foods improved after the Food Friends program, however, no direct correlations were found between teacher food-related attitudes and behaviors and child food behaviors. Conclusions and Implications: Preschool teacher attitudes and behaviors may not significantly impact child food-related behaviors. More research is needed to determine effective ways of encouraging positive child food behaviors. / Master of Science