Work-to-Family Conflict and Changes in Employment During COVID-19: Cross-sectional Associations with Food Parenting Practices and the Home Food Environment

The home food environment and food parenting practices are critical in shaping children’s dietary habits. Employed parents of young children often face competing demands that may affect their food parenting and home food environment. This cross-sectional study examined associations of work-to-family conflict and COVID-19-related employment changes with the home food environment and food parenting practices. Between July 2020 and December 2021, employed parents (218 mothers and 171 fathers) reported work-to-family conflict and employment changes, examined as any change and transition to online/remote work. Parents also reported food parenting practices (structured, coercive control, and autonomy support) and the home food environment (family meal frequency, meal preparation time, and healthfulness of foods served at dinner). Separate linear regression models were conducted for mothers and fathers, adjusting for ethnicity, education, and number of children. Among mothers, greater work-to-family conflict was associated with less frequent family meals (B = -0.12, 95% CI: -0.19, -0.04), lower healthfulness of foods served at dinner (B = -0.16, 95% CI: -0.26, -0.06), less use of structured practices (B = -0.03, 95% CI: -0.05, -0.01), and greater use of coercive control (B = 0.04, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.06). Among fathers, work-to-family conflict was associated only with greater use of coercive control (B = 0.04, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.06). Among mothers, transitioning to online/remote work was associated with less meal preparation time (B = -6.20, 95% CI: -10.09, -2.31) and greater use of autonomy support (B = 0.16, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.30). Work-to-family conflict and employment changes were associated with food parenting and the home food environment, particularly among mothers. Supporting employed parents may help families maintain healthy home food environments during future public health, climate, or economic crises.