Human development like physical growth, cognitive development, and related health status could be shaped by numerous influential determinants from family, school, and other institutional systems. Social cognitive theory proposed a model of triadic reciprocal determinism including behavior, cognition and other personal factors, and environmental influences (Bandura, 1989). This study first examined the correlation between parent-child fat intake, and then investigated the factors associated with observed correlation using a model derived from social cognitive theory. Data came from a household-based survey of 913 groups of father and daughters, 1240 groups of father and sons, 902 groups of mother and daughters, 1246 groups of mother and sons in nine provinces. Respondents reported all food consumption on a 24-hour basis for three consecutive days. Parents provided their dietary knowledge, food preference and activity preference as social cognitive covariates. Household income and parental education level were included in the model for socioeconomic controlling. The parent-child correlations were strong (0.87-0.88) for fat intake. The strength of cognitive factors that were associated with observed correlations varied in each gender group.
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