Learned Experience and Resource Dilution: A Family Systems Approach Using Mixed Methods to Understand Sibling Feeding
Restricted (Penn State Only)
Author:
Ruggiero, Cara
Graduate Program:
Nutritional Sciences
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type:
Dissertation
Date of Defense:
March 29, 2022
Committee Members:
Stephen Kodish, Major Field Member Jennifer Williams, Chair & Dissertation Advisor Kathleen Keller, Major Field Member Gregory Shearer, Professor in Charge/Director of Graduate Studies Susan McHale, Outside Unit & Minor Member Damon Jones, Outside Field Member
Keywords:
Responsive feeding siblings family systems mixed methods infancy toddlerhood
Abstract:
Studies from diverse cultures report mixed results in the relationship between birth order and risk for obesity. Explanations may thus lie in the postnatal period when growth is shaped by the family environment, including parent feeding practices, which may be affected by siblings. Consistent with a family systems perspective, this dissertation describes two processes that could explain birth order effects on parental feeding practices and child outcomes: learned experience and resource dilution. Parents learn from experience when earlier-born children influence their parents’ knowledge, expectations, and behavior toward later-born siblings through their behaviors and characteristics —which can have both positive and negative implications. Resource dilution is a process whereby the birth of each child limits the time, attention and other resources parents have to devote to any one of their children. The goal of this dissertation is to examine the role of siblings in maternal responsive feeding in order to develop recommendations for future research and practice aimed at preventing obesity throughout family systems.
