Abstract
Purpose
To examine the relationship between parenting styles and parental attitudes towards oral health practices in children.
Methods
Parents of children aged 4–6 years presenting to four public dental clinics completed the Parenting Styles Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ) and a questionnaire on parental attitudes, child diet and oral hygiene practices. Child oral health was evaluated using Plaque Index (PI) and dmft-Index.
Results
Three hundred and eighty-nine children (mean age: 62.3 ± 9.8 months) were recruited. The median dmft was 4 (IQR = 9) and median PI was 1.5 (IQR = 0.8). An authoritative parenting style was observed in 95.1% of parents. Authoritative parents were more likely to monitor sweets/snacks intake (P = 0.004) and less inclined to offer sweets/snacks in exchange for good behaviour (P = 0.04) than permissive parents. However, actual between-meal snacking frequency did not differ between styles (P = 0.43). Permissive parents were less likely to ensure bedtime toothbrushing (P = 0.001) or brush thoroughly when busy or tired (P = 0.03) compared to authoritative parents; these attitudes were associated with higher frequencies of actual omission of bedtime toothbrushing (P = 0.006) in their children. A higher frequency of omitting bedtime toothbrushing significantly predicted a permissive parenting style (OR = 12.1, P = 0.009). Parenting styles were not associated with dmft (P = 0.72) and/or PI (P = 0.34).
Conclusions
Authoritative parenting was associated with positive attitudes regarding both preventive dietary and oral hygiene practices. Actual oral hygiene practices were more ideal in children with authoritative parents, but parenting styles had no impact on actual dietary habits.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Dr Jessica Khong and Dr Justine Lim for helping to recruit patients.
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Lai B., Hong C.H. and Quek S.J. conceived the idea. Quek S.J., Khong S.Y.J., Lim W.Y.J. and Lai B. collected the data. Sim Y.F. and Quek S.J. analysed the data. Hong C.H. and Quek S.J. led the writing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Ethics approval from the various ethics boards were obtained prior to study commencement (National Healthcare Group Domain Specific Review Board reference code 2016/00610; National Dental Centre reference code 225/2016).
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Quek, S.J., Sim, Y.F., Lai, B. et al. The effect of parenting styles on enforcement of oral health behaviours in children. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent 22, 83–92 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40368-020-00537-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40368-020-00537-7