Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The 2016 W3003 annual meeting was held from Wed 04/06/2016 to Sat 04/09/2016 – immediately following the 2016 Experimental Biology meeting – at the Sheraton Hotel in San Diego, CA. The meeting host was Siew Sun Wong. Attendees included:

Anderson, Alex, University of Georgia (call in)

Banna, Jinan, University of Hawaii @ Manoa¹

Cluskey, Mary, Oregon State University

Leon Guerrero, Rachael T., University of Guam² (call in)

Gunther, Carolyn, Ohio State University³

Hongu, Nobuko Kay, University of Arizona⁴

Jones, Blake, Purdue University

Lora, Karina, Oklahoma State University (call in)

McElwain, Alyssa, University of Wyoming (call in)

Monroe-Lord, Lillie, District of Columbia Cooperative Extension

Misner, Scottie, University of Arizona

Reicks, Marla, University of Minnesota

Richards, Rickelle, Brigham Young University⁵

Topham, Glade, Oklahoma State University

Wong, Siew Sun, Oregon State University

¹2015-16 Chair-Elect, ²Administrative Advisor, ³2015-16 Chair, ⁴Secretary, ⁵Past Chair

Main accomplishments:

• We reviewed findings from the pre-pilot study for objective 1; using these data, we worked to draft the final research protocol documents – both the child and parent protocols. The child working group included: Jinan Banna, Mary Cluskey, Carolyn Gunther, Blake Jones, Lillie Monroe-Lord, and Siew Sun Wong. The parent working group included: Kay Hongu, Karina Lora, Scottie Misner, Marla Reicks, Rickelle Richards, and Glade Topham. 
• We revised the recruitment grid for objective 1 to add new members, and stratify not only by child race/ethnicity, but also sex of child. Each member is expected to recruit up to 5 parent-child dyads. We also assigned site and participant ID numbers (to be used in the upcoming Objective 1 study) and developed a data management plan.
• The study timeline was reviewed and modified:

• W3003 group bylaws, which outline member expectations, were developed based on the bylaws document from the previous W2003 project.
• Topics for papers from Objective 1 were discussed and writing groups assigned.
• Developing a USDA AFRI proposal (to be submitted in the upcoming call for applications), led by Glade Topham (in PI role), was discussed. The topic would align directly with the W3003 project.
• Members nominated Jinan Banna (Chair), Blake Jones (Chair-Elect), and Scottie Misner (Secretary) to serve in leadership positions for the 2016-17 term. Carolyn Gunther will serve as Past Chair. The next annual meeting is scheduled for University of HI @ Manoa from March 15-19, 2017. Jinan Banna will serve as meeting host and Blake Jones will chair the meeting.

Background

There is limited evidence about how adolescents make food choices without the direct supervision of their parents, who are primary influencers of their choices and consumption behavior (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 or 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 that 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 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 2015-16

The main accomplishment of the W3003 group in 2015-16 was developing, testing, and finalizing the research protocols to be used in Objective 1 of the project. Progress on this task was facilitated through monthly conference calls in which we reviewed pilot test progress, discussed and worked to resolve issues, and devised ‘next steps.’ In addition to the monthly conference calls, the child and parent protocol subgroups met on an as-needed basis to work on the protocol revisions. The work invested in developing and testing the protocols has positioned us to launch data collection for Objective 1 with a seamless approach that will enhance our data collection efforts. Another major accomplishment was the publication of the Nutrients review article, which highlighted the need for more information that characterizes independent eating occasions among preadolescents and the influence of parents. Worth noting, this paper was published in a special issue focused on childhood obesity prevention and treatment, which was chaired by Dr. Nicole Larsen, a leading national scholar in the area. 

In addition, understanding the need to expand and diversify our group, with support from our new Administrative Leader, Dr. Rachael Leon Guerrero, we successfully recruited and integrated multiple new members: 

Dr. Alex Anderson, University of Georgia, Foods and Nutrition

Dr. Blake Jones, Purdue University, Human Development and Family Studies

Dr. Ruth Litchfield, Iowa State University, Food Science and Human Nutrition

Dr. Lillie Monroe-Lord and colleagues, University of the District of Columbia, Nutrition and Dietetics

Dr. Alyssa McElwain, University of Wyoming, Human Development and Family Sciences

Finally, at the 2016 annual meeting, as outlined above, we completed the final revisions to the research protocols (Objective 1), prepared for launching Objective 1 (revised recruitment grid, assigned site and participants ID numbers, developed data management plan), reviewed and revised the study timeline, developed an outline of manuscripts (and accompanying writing groups) that will come from Objective 1. We also strategized a plan to submit a USDA AFRI grant, reviewed the W3003 bylaws, and elected the new 2016-17 leadership.

Reicks M, Banna J, Cluskey M, Gunther CW, Hongu NK, Richards R, Topham G, Wong SS. (2015) Influence of parenting practices on eating behaviors of early adolescents during independent eating occasions: implications for obesity prevention. Nutrients. 7:8783-8801.

Banna J, Reicks M, Gunther C, Richards R, Bruhn B, Cluskey M, Wong SS, Misner S, Hongu N, Johnston NP. (2016) Perceived effects of emotion-based messages on motivation of Hispanic and Asian parents of early adolescents to engage in calcium-rich food and beverage parenting practices. Nutr Res Pract. 10:e26.

Martinez Y, Bellajos M, Bruhn C, Cluskey M, Gunther C, Johnston P, Misner S, Reicks M, Richards R, Wong SS, Banna JC. Evaluation of Messages to Motivate Parents to Promote Intake of Calcium-Rich Foods in Early Adolescents. Accepted at Community Scholarship and Engagement.

Vyduna JL, Boushey CJ, Bruhn CM, Reicks M, Auld GW, Cluskey M, Edlefsen M, Misner S, Olson B, Schram J, Zaghloul S. Field testing a questionnaire to identify parental psychosocial factors related to consumption of calcium-rich foods of their early adolescent children. Ecol Food Nutr. 2016;55(1):1-15.

Cluskey M, Wong SS, Richards R, Ballejos M, Reicks M, Auld G, Boushey C, Bruhn C, Misner S, Olson B, Zaghoul S. Dietary sources of calcium among parents and their early adolescent children in the United States by parent race/ethnicity and place of birth. J Immigr Minor Health. 2015;17(2):432-440.