Nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and dietary practices among parents of children and adolescents in Weifang, China: A cross-sectional study

Parent’s nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and dietary practices (KAP) play imperative roles in preventing malnutrition for themselves and their children. Our study aimed to determine the status and contributing factors of nutrition KAP among parents of children and adolescents. A total of 1746 parents (mean age 39.67 ± 5.38 years, females accounting for 69.82%) of primary and junior high school students in Weifang, China, completed a self-reported KAP questionnaire in August 2021. An analysis of Pearson product-moment correlation was conducted to determine the relationship between knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Chi-square test, followed by a multivariable robust Poisson regression analysis, was performed to identify the contributing factors to parents’ KAP. A 65.94% awareness rate of nutritional knowledge was observed. The correlations between nutrition knowledge and attitudes (r = 0.03, P = 0.23), knowledge and practices (r = 0.02, P = 0.34), and attitudes and practices (r = 0.16, P < 0.01) were relatively weak. After adjusting for other contributing factors, females [prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.28, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.13–1.45], participants with secondary education (PR = 4.64, 95% CI = 1.60–13.50), junior college education (PR = 5.87, 95% CI = 2.01–17.13) and college degree or above education (PR = 6.58, 95% CI = 2.25–19.23) acquired higher nutrition knowledge scores. Moreover, healthy diet behaviors were more commonly implemented by females than males (PR = 1.42, 95% CI = 1.14–1.76), and which needed to be improved in those with abnormal body mass indexes (BMIs) [overweight (PR = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.74–0.99) and obese (PR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.56–0.99)]. It was necessary for nutrition KAP promotion to be emphasized in nutritional knowledge and dietary practices, as well as health behavior guidance, especially for parents with low education and elevated BMIs.