Parental perceptions of their children's diet and academic performance in the first three years of school : a mixed-method analysis

Abstract

Understanding parental perceptions of their child's diet and academic performance can help enable a child to grow and flourish. Good nutrition for optimal health and educational outcomes would provide opportunity for the child to not only survive but thrive in today's society. However, despite the Australian Government providing healthy eating guidelines, Australian children's quality of diet often remains poor, low in fruit and vegetables but high in fats and sugars. With parents the main gatekeepers of a child's diet, it is important to better understand the choices parents make for their child's diet and why. Along with diet, education is key for a child's development. Therefore, another aim of this research is to understand parental perceptions of academic success and how they view their children's diet when compared to the child's actual nutritional intake. The current study utilised two data collection surveys, one a short answer qualitative questionnaire on parents' perspectives of their child's diet and academic performance. The second, being the quantitative Australian Child and Adolescent Eating Survey. Results found that even though sampled parents' value healthy eating and want their children to eat healthy, their child's diet quality is poor and did not meet Australian Dietary Guidelines. Notably for participating parents from culturally diverse backgrounds, there was a disconnect between their wanting children to eat healthy and children's actual diet quality. Culturally diverse parents also demonstrated limited knowledge by not describing a connection between children's diet and academic performance or a clear understanding of what a healthy diet should consist of for school age children. This study explores the notion that parental perceptions are often complex when it comes to their child's diet and education. There is a need for intervention, especially in schools with culturally diverse backgrounds to ensure parents are aware of how diet can contribute to children's academic performance and what a 'healthy school diet' includes.

Date of Award	2021
Original language	English