Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The 2015 annual meeting was held on 3/11-3/14 at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. Meeting host was Jinan Banna. Attendees included: Banna, Jinan, University of Hawaii, Manoa Cluskey, Mary, Oregon State University Gunther, Carolyn, Ohio State University Misner, Scottie, University of Arizona Hongu, Nobuko Kay, University of Arizona** Deborah Maddy, Oregon State University*** Reicks, Marla, University of Minnesota Richards, Rickelle, Brigham Young University* Topham, Glade, Oklahoma State University Wong, Siew Sun, Oregon State University *2014-5 Chair **2014-5 Secretary ***Administrative Leader The following list includes the main accomplishments of this year’s annual W3003 meeting: 1) reviewed findings from pre-pilot study in testing feasibility of using proposed methods (Qualtrics offline app) for collecting Objective 1 data from youth; 2) formed and met in subgroups for developing formal protocol for collecting Objective 1 data from parents and youth (Mary Cluskey, Jinan Banna, Carolyn Gunther, and Siew Sun Wong were in the youth subgroup; Rickelle Richards, Glade Topham, Kay Hongu, Marla Reicks, and Scottie Misner were in the parents subgroup); and 3) created recruitment grid to establish number of parent-youth dyads that need to be recruited at each site for Objective 1, sampling strategy, and refined timeline for Objective 1 data collection and analysis. Members nominated Carolyn Gunther, Jinan Banna, and Kay Hongu to serve as 2015-16 Chair, Chair-elect, and Secretary, respectively. The next annual meeting is tentatively scheduled for San Diego, CA from April 6-9, 2016.

Background There is limited evidence about how adolescents eat when they are making food choices without the direct influence of their parents, who are primary influencers of their choices and consumption behavior as children (Savage et al., 2007). US children and adults are consuming food more frequently throughout the day and more at each occasion (Popkin and Duffey, 2010); a rise that parallels the rise in obesity and increases in portion sizes (Piernas and Popkin, 2011). That consumption is occurring as primary eating or meal occasions but increasingly as secondary eating which may nor may not be mealtime eating. Additionally, while evidence shows that most families (58%) consume about 5 or more meals/week together, (National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA), 2011), others report the percentage consuming shared family meals decreases among lower SES groups (Neumark-Sztainer et al., 2013). The 1994-96 CFSII data reveal a mean of 4.5 daily eating occasions/day (Ritchie, 2012). Adolescents (10-13 years old) who are at the age of becoming more independent are likely making food choice decisions on their own at some of those other daily eating occasions. However, frequency of eating and snacking are both increasing and what and how much food adolescents choose and consume when they are outside of their parental influence is not known. The work exploring parental practices and their impact on children’s intakes, weight and eating behaviors is not well established. In particular, a focus on what occurs in those occasions when the child is making independent choices and not in the presence of the parent needs more clarity. What strategies do parents use to model healthy food intake? How can the behavior of modeling or creating rules and expectations be measured and how do those behaviors impact children’s food intake? How often do early adolescents make independent food choices and are there parental expectations for choices that they make? How compliant are they with their parental rules? How do role modeling, food choice rules or expectations and food availability translate into food choices when a child is on their own or with peers or siblings at an eating occasion? How can parents be more motivated and overcome the barriers they perceive to practicing positive eating related parental behaviors? Having a greater understanding of this phenomenon fosters the ability to communicate and promote effective practices and strategies to parents for managing healthy eating among their youth. Project Objectives 1. Explore and identify key parental practices (role modeling, making healthy foods available, and setting rules/expectations and other practices) that may impact eating behaviors and food choices during independent eating occasions and weight among low-income, multi-ethnic early adolescents. 2. Examine the association between key parental practices and positive eating behaviors during independent eating occasions among low-income, multi-ethnic early adolescents 3. Examine the association between key parental practices and early adolescents’ weight. 4. Develop communications for parents and nutrition professionals Main Accomplishments for 2014-15 Prior to our annual meetings, several conference calls with a subgroup of W3003 were convened to discuss possible data collection methods for Objective 1 in relation to youth. Using more modern technology apps or software were discussed, researched, and tested for feasibility by a handful of youth aged 10-13 years and by W3003 team members. During the annual meeting, the W3003 team was split into two subgroups – a parent subgroup and child/youth subgroup – to develop/refine protocols for Objective 1 data collection. Suggested protocols were presented in the large group, with suggestions made, and then subgroups reconvened to revise protocols. We also developed our sampling strategy, recruitment grid, and revised the timeline. Since the annual meeting, we have advertised for more investigators to join our multi-state team and have been meeting in subgroups to finalize all research protocols. We anticipate collecting Objective 1 data this coming Jun-Aug (pilot) and Oct-Feb (actual) and organizing the data for analysis (Mar-Apr). Data analysis and establishing writing teams will occur at our next annual meeting.

No abstracts or publications have been submitted yet for W3003.