Parental food provisioning behaviours and perceptions in relation to environmentally sustainable diets for young children

Promoting environmentally sustainable diets for children is crucial for human and planetary health now and for future generations. Much research has examined parents' roles in shaping children's dietary behaviours from a nutrition viewpoint, but there is little evidence regarding whether and how parents consider environmental sustainability in feeding their children. This study primarily aimed to understand parental perceptions, current practices, motivation, and self-efficacy regarding environmentally sustainable diets for children. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among Australian parents of children aged 2-8 years (n = 316), recruited via social media and a university website. The survey included closed-ended and open-ended questions, with quantitative data analysed using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests, while thematic analysis was applied to open-ended responses. Australian parents' perceptions aligned with many aspects of environmentally sustainable diets, with the majority highlighting that providing local and seasonal foods aligns with such a diet. Most parents were already engaging in multiple sustainable food provisioning and purchasing behaviours (60%-90%), such as providing fruit and vegetables in season (95%) and avoiding buying food without knowing how it will be used (90%). Although fewer parents engaged in behaviours such as providing fruits and/or vegetables from a home or community garden (60%) and actively searching for products in degradable, compostable, or recyclable packaging (65%), there was high motivation and self-efficacy to adopt them. Understanding perceived enablers and barriers to parents providing children with sustainable diets is an important next step in designing interventions to support parents in providing healthy and sustainable diets for their children.