The Relationship Between Nutrition Knowledge and Feeding Style with Nutritional Status in Early Childhood Education Institutions

Nutritional problems among children in coastal areas reflect the complexity of unique socio-ecological challenges, in which mothers' theoretical understanding is often not translated into appropriate parenting practices. This study aims to comprehensively analyze the relationships between mothers' nutritional knowledge and feeding styles and the nutritional status of preschool-aged children, and to identify the most influential determinants in coastal communities. This analytical observational study employed a cross-sectional design and included 107 pairs of mothers and children aged 3-6 years in the coastal area of Bai Island, Bengkulu City. Subjects were selected using multistage random sampling. Research instruments included the Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire (NKQ), Caregiver's Feeding Styles Questionnaire (CFSQ), and standardized anthropometric measurements. Data were analyzed using the Chi-Square test and Multiple Logistic Regression to predict risk. The results showed that the prevalence of stunting in the study location was 31.8%. Multivariate analysis revealed that although nutrition knowledge was correlated with nutritional status, feeding style was a much stronger predictor. Mothers with authoritarian caregiving styles increased the risk of stunting by 5.19 times (95% CI: 1.90–14.17), while uninvolved styles increased the risk by 7.27 times (95% CI: 1.77–29.85) compared to authoritative styles. Conclusion: There is a significant gap between cognition and practice, in which parenting interaction patterns (e.g., feeding practices) have a greater impact on nutritional status than mere nutritional knowledge.