Ethnic Differences in Family Childcare Providers’ Nutrition- and Activity-Related Attitudes and Barriers

Table 3

Family childcare providers’ nutrition-related attitudes and barriers by ethnicity status.

Variable	Mean (SD)				Adjusted^c
	All	Latinx	Non-Latinx		F	P
Positive attitudes
It is important for childcare providers to sit with children while they eat^a	4.85 (0.59)	4.88 (0.54)	4.79 (0.69)	0.379	0.06	0.812
Childcare providers should eat the same food as the children in their care^a	4.65 (0.86)	4.83 (0.64)	4.19 (1.14)	<0.001	13.66	<0.001
Childcare settings affect children’s lifelong eating habits^a	4.47 (0.89)	4.50 (0.89)	4.40 (0.90)	0.550	0.94	0.335
You like the taste of the healthy food that the children are supposed to eat^b	3.54 (2.17)	3.33 (2.27)	4.06 (1.82)	0.049	0.25	0.615
You know how to encourage the children to try new foods^b	3.53 (2.14)	3.31 (2.25)	4.11 (1.72)	0.029	0.06	0.809
You know how to talk to children about healthy eating^b	3.51 (2.12)	3.24 (2.22)	4.19 (1.66)	0.008	2.39	0.124
You have enough time to prepare healthy food as often as you would like^b	3.42 (2.18)	3.19 (2.29)	4.00 (1.77)	0.030	0.05	0.827
You have enough time lead lessons about nutrition^b	3.35 (2.09)	3.13 (2.19)	3.91 (1.70)	0.029	0.01	0.918
You know how to find materials to use to teach children about nutrition^b	3.32 (2.13)	3.09 (2.22)	3.89 (1.76)	0.028	0.08	0.775
You have enough time to sit at the table with the children at meal and snack times^b	3.18 (2.16)	3.02 (2.24)	3.62 (1.87)	0.106	0.05	0.832
If water was the only drink that you offered during playtime, the children would drink enough^b	3.17 (2.22)	2.76 (2.26)	4.21 (1.74)	<0.001	9.63	0.002
The children like the taste of skim or low-fat (1%) milk^b	3.07 (2.19)	2.74 (2.24)	3.94 (1.81)	0.001	7.12	0.009
Some dishes you make would taste just as good if you made them with whole grains^b	3.04 (2.09)	2.72 (2.15)	3.85 (1.72)	0.001	5.674	0.019
If you were to limit the amount of 100% pure fruit juice the children drink, they would get enough vitamins^b	2.96 (2.20)	2.70 (2.25)	3.64 (1.93)	0.013	1.55	0.215
If you let the children decide how much to eat, they will take the right amount^b	2.04 (1.82)	1.80 (1.81)	2.64 (1.74)	0.007	2.33	0.130
Misconceptions
Society has gone overboard limiting sweets and other desirable food^a	3.17 (1.65)	3.25 (1.68)	2.98 (1.57)	0.344	1.78	0.185
Serving the food at meal and snack time is the adult’s responsibility^b	3.07 (2.14)	3.12 (2.25)	2.96 (1.85)	0.668	16.39	<0.001
When children serve themselves, they are likely to eat less^a	3.01 (1.47)	3.36 (1.37)	2.13 (1.36)	<0.001	27.55	<0.001
How children eat while at childcare has little or no effect on food habits because those are formed at home^a	2.82 (1.66)	3.17 (1.64)	1.91 (1.37)	<0.001	2.42	0.123
Giving children a food treat to reward good behavior is an effective way to manage their behavior^a	1.89 (1.37)	2.06 (1.46)	1.47 (0.10)	0.012	3.18	0.077
Perceived barriers
If you let the children serve themselves, they will make too much of a mess^b	2.54 (2.01)	2.54 (2.08)	2.53 (1.84)	0.988	4.27	0.041
The children eat unhealthy foods at home, so it is hard to get them to eat healthy foods in your care^b	2.44 (2.03)	2.34 (2.10)	2.70 (1.82)	0.298	0.23	0.630
If you let the children serve themselves, they will waste too much food^b	2.36 (1.90)	2.28 (1.96)	2.57 (1.77)	0.371	0.40	0.531
Fresh fruits and vegetables go bad too quickly to be able to serve them very often^b	2.15 (2.00)	2.21 (2.07)	2.02 (1.81)	0.591	4.49	0.036
It is hard to serve healthy foods because the children are picky^b	2.13 (1.93)	2.05 (1.99)	2.32 (1.80)	0.419	0.32	0.576
You are concerned about wasting food because the children will not eat healthy foods^b	1.85 (1.83)	1.91 (1.98)	1.70 (1.40)	0.512	5.38	0.022
Fresh fruits and vegetables are too expensive to serve as often as you would like^b	1.72 (1.75)	1.72 (1.82)	1.72 (1.57)	0.988	2.86	0.093

Note. Higher scores indicate higher agreement with the statement. ^aPhone survey, ^bin-person survey, and ^cANOVA with family childcare providers’ education as a covariate. The Bonferroni correction was used to control the multiple comparisons, and the adjusted critical value was 0.0011.