2.1. Parental Food Education and Children’s Food Literacy
The term “food literacy” is a new concept, defined as, “the collection of interrelated knowledge, skills, and behaviors required for planning, managing, selecting, preparing, and consuming food to meet needs and determine nutritional intake [
26]”. Food literacy, in addition to the focus on traditional nutrition education, requires an understanding of food shopping and preparation. Children who participate in food preparation at home are more likely to continue to enjoy cooking and preparing healthy meals as adults [
26,
27]. Moreover, studies have shown that the main food-related factors affecting childhood obesity are dietary quality and participation in food preparation [
28]. In relevant food education programs, dietary quality generally includes vegetable and fruit intake, picky eating, wasteful behavior, and so on. Family dietary activities generally focus on helping family members cook, including washing dishes, arranging plates, preparing food, stir-frying, and so on [
29].
Food education refers to the teaching of a wide range of food-related knowledge and skills to help people “eat right” [
30]. In regard to the family scenario, this study defines parental food education, as parents teach children a wide range of food-related knowledge and skills to help children “eat right”. In existing studies, food education can be broadly categorized into theoretical and practical education, with theoretical education including videos, picture books, etc., and practical education including cooking, games, etc. [
19,
29,
31].
Research has shown that parents cooking at home with their children reduces childhood obesity, and increases the frequency of children’s participation in dinner preparation and healthy food literacy [
19]. In addition, a study showed that picture books have the potential to be a simple and convenient form of family nutrition education that can help parents try to reduce other poor eating habits, such as picky eating, in children. Not only can picture books be read slowly and used as many times as is convenient for the parent, but engaging children in discussions within the book can provide an opportunity for children to express their understanding of the story’s message and relate it to their personal behavior [
32]. It is clear that parental food education increases children’s dietary quality and frequency of participation in family dietary activities. Therefore, we propose hypothesis H1:
Hypothesis H1. Parental food education has a significant positive impact on children’s food literacy.
2.2. The Mediating Effect of the Parent–Child Relationship
The parent–child relationship has been defined as a unique and influential relationship, established during parent–child interactions, which is critical to the physical and mental development of adolescents [
33]. Food-related family activities are often recognized as having a strong correlation with the parent–child relationship [
34], possibly because food is often closely linked to family health, so food-related family activities are more likely to trigger bonding among family members. In addition, food is central to the way children express love in their families [
35], and food-related family interactions promote family connections, self-efficacy, and positive and healthy emotions [
36]. Therefore, if parents conduct teaching activities around food, children will feel valued and cared for by their parents during these interactions, which can effectively improve parent–child relationship closeness.
Parent–child relationships usually impact children’s eating behaviors. One of the first studies on attachment phenomena in adolescents with eating disorders found that the presence of an affectively positive and emotionally supportive parental relationship, in conjunction with parental fostering of autonomy, reduced weight concerns, feelings of inadequacy, and overeating behaviors in young people [
37], whereas poor relationships with parents can lead to a lack of family cohesion and obstacles to parent–child communication, which makes it less likely for children to participate in the family’s dietary activities [
36]. It is evident that the quality of the parent–child relationship influences children’s food literacy. Therefore, we propose hypothesis H2:
Hypothesis H2. The parent–child relationship mediates the relationship between parental food education and children’s food literacy.
2.3. The Mediating Effect of Learning Motivation
Regarded as a necessary factor for students’ engagement in learning, motivation is defined as the motivation to perform or undertake a specific task [
38]. Studies have shown that parental involvement increases children’s motivation and participation in learning activities by supporting and encouraging them to adopt a positive approach to achievement [
39]. Existing food education activities organized by schools in conjunction with parents have been shown to increase children’s self-efficacy and interest in learning about food education, thereby improving children’s dietary quality and their frequency of participation in family dietary activities [
29,
40,
41].
In addition, learning motivation is also recognized as one of the key factors influencing students’ engagement in learning, as learning motivation helps to establish high expectations, thereby encouraging children to actively participate in learning [
42]. Therefore, if food education is viewed from a pedagogical perspective, an increase in children’s learning motivation promotes higher expectations and a sense of efficacy in food learning, which, in turn, affects their enjoyment, interest, and engagement in food learning [
43], enabling them to demonstrate better learning behaviors and outcomes, and shaping better food literacy. Therefore, we propose hypothesis H3:
Hypothesis H3. Learning motivation mediates the relationship between parental food education and children’s food literacy.
Notably, when children interact with their parents, they can receive emotional support, and are more likely to feel respected and loved by their parents [
44]. In general, the parent–child relationship contributes to the development of children’s learning motivation by reinforcing their need for relatedness, competence, and autonomy [
45]. Thus, in a family food education scenario, parental food education can increase the interaction with children and build a more favorable parent–child relationship that enhances children’s learning motivation within the food education environment. Therefore, we propose hypothesis H4:
Hypothesis H4. Parental food education influences children’s food literacy through the chain-mediated effects of the parent–child relationship and learning motivation.
2.4. The Moderating Effect of the Teaching Stage
The teaching stage is a broader concept than grade level [
46]. For the current study, grades 1–3 are generally referred to as the lower elementary grades; grades 4–6 are referred to as the upper elementary grades; grades 7–9 are referred to as the middle school grades; and grades 10–12 are referred to as the high school grades [
47]. In order to more clearly examine the effects of different teaching stages on children’s diets, some studies categorize 9–10 year olds as elementary school students and 13–14 year olds as middle school students [
24]. Because many children go through puberty around the same time, as they move from elementary school to middle school, with shifts in various aspects of cognition and behavior [
48,
49], the shift between teaching stages may also have an important impact on children’s food-related cognitions and behaviors.
First, as children transition from elementary school to middle school, they are required to spend more time and energy on attending school, participating in sports and extracurricular activities, and being with friends [
24]. Second, upon entering middle school, parental food control begins to diminish, except for eating out, and children have more control over their food choices [
24], which results in the gradual withdrawal of parents from the children’s eating circles. All of these factors can force parents, or unconsciously cause them, to reduce their children’s food education. As a result, parents reduce their food care for middle school students, so it is easier for middle school students to feel that their parents do not care for them, or even do not attach importance to them, than it is for elementary school students.
Moreover, as children gain greater independence with the transition to middle school, the parent–child relationship undergoes an important shift. Research shows that parent–child conflict increases and peaks in early adolescence. This increase in conflict is accompanied by a decrease in emotional intimacy, especially when children spend less time with their parents [
50]. However, due to the new social and academic demands to which preadolescent children must adjust as they enter middle school, they may need more social support, and due to the disruption in their social networks after the transition, parents may be called upon to temporarily compensate for the loss of peer support at this time [
23]. Therefore, when children are in middle school, food education, as an activity that can convey the level of parental care and attention, will exacerbate the deterioration in parent–child relationship quality even more if its frequency decreases. Therefore, we propose hypothesis H5:
Hypothesis H5. The teaching stage plays a moderating role between parental food education and the parent–child relationship, and the moderating effect is greater at the middle school stage than at the elementary school stage.
Although middle school students possess knowledge about healthy eating, their food preferences, especially in terms of taste, texture, and appearance, override this knowledge when making food decisions [
51]. Additionally, middle school students tend to perceive parental feeding strategies and family diets as less important in influencing their food choices compared to elementary school students [
24]. Elementary school students were more likely to be influenced by familial dietary patterns and parental advice compared to middle school students [
52]. Thus, middle school students are prone to a lack of perceived utility value, interest, or expectation of food education provided by their parents, leading to difficulties in generating learning motivation for parental food education; middle school students are also more likely to be influenced by their peers, school, or their own preferences, so the situation in which parental food education is considered an education may decline at this time.
In addition, there is evidence that as children move from elementary to middle to high school, their consumption of breakfast, fruits, vegetables, and milk decreases, while their consumption of other beverages increases [
53]. Eating out with peers or at school is one of the reasons middle school students may consume less healthy diets. At the same time, school has a heavier influence on middle school students’ diets than on those of elementary school students, and middle school students will consume unhealthier foods during the school day than at home [
24], which also makes middle school students much less likely to participate in family dietary activities. These factors suggest that middle school students are more likely to have poorer food literacy and are less likely to be influenced by learning motivation than elementary school students. Therefore, we propose hypothesis H6:
Hypothesis H6. The teaching stage plays a moderating role between motivation and children’s food literacy, with greater moderating effects at the elementary school stage than at the middle school stage.
Through the above hypotheses, our purpose of the study is to examine the effects of parental food education on children’s food literacy.