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Relationships between Temperament and eating Behaviours in young Children

Relationships between Temperament and eating Behaviours in young Children. Sari Bornstein. Background:. Children’s eating behavior is an important priority given the prevalence of childhood obesity

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Relationships between Temperament and eating Behaviours in young Children

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  1. Relationships between Temperament and eating Behaviours in young Children Sari Bornstein

  2. Background: • Children’s eating behavior is an important priority given the prevalence of childhood obesity • Differences in child temperament may be a reason why certain children have better relationship with food than others • Overweight vs. underweight • Feeding problems • FOOD APPROACH eating behaviors: food responsiveness, emotional over-eating, enjoyment of food, desire to drink • FOOD AVOIDANT eating behaviors: satiety responsiveness, slowness in eating, emotional under-eating and food fussiness

  3. Purpose: • To examine associations between young children’s temperament and a range of typical eating behaviors, and • To examine the association between children’s BMI,eating behavior and temperament

  4. Hypothesis: • Children that report having a more difficult temperament would have more food avoidance and less food approach eating behaviors, and • Children having a higher BMI would have higher levels of food approach eating behaviors and more emotional temperament

  5. Participants: • Included 241 mothers of children aged 3-8 years • Excluded from the study if: • Missing information • Father/male caregiver • Information on the mothers: • Mean age of mothers: 36 Y.O. (SD 5.72) • Mean BMI of mothers: 24 (SD 4.17) *generally healthy weight* • Mean education level after 16 Y.O: 4 years (SD 2.82) • Information on the children: • 55% male, 45% female • Mean age: 5 Y.O. • 25% underweight, 51% normal weight, 24% overweight/obese • White, middle class neighborhoods

  6. Methods: • Children’s Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) • Distributed to nurseries/schools for the parent to fill out, along with background information of the mother and child • 35 item questionnaire on 4food approach eating behaviors: food responsiveness, emotional over-eating, enjoyment of food, desire to drink, and 4 food avoidant eating behaviors: satiety responsiveness, slowness of eating, emotional under-eating, food fussiness • Based on a 5-point Likert scale (never to always) • Mean scores were calculated • EAS Temperament Survey • 20 statements assessing 4 dimensions of children’s temperament: shyness, emotionality, sociability & activity • Based on a 5-point Likert scale. Higher scores indicated the trait being more typical • Mean scores were calculated • T-tests used to analyze data • Examined differences in child age and gender • Girls more emotional than boys & boys more active than girls

  7. Data: Table 1. Descriptive statistics for the whole sample of children on subscales of the Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire and EAS Temperament Survey. Children (N = 241) Mean (SD) Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire Food responsiveness 2.20 (0.64) Emotional over-eating 1.72 (0.59) Enjoyment of food 3.86 (0.68) Desire to drink 2.52 (0.96) Satiety responsiveness 2.94 (0.64) Slowness in eating 2.92 (0.83) Emotional under-eating 2.76 (0.90) Food fussiness 2.70 (0.81) EAS Temperament Survey Shyness 2.62 (0.81) Emotionality 2.57 (0.94) Sociability 3.57 (0.65) Activity 4.17 (0.71)

  8. Results: X indicates a positive correlation X indicates a negative correlation

  9. Summary: • The data found supported the claims that: • Children with more difficult temperaments would have more food avoidant eating behaviors. • Children with higher BMI would have greater food approach eating behaviors. • No evidence was found which related children’s BMI to emotional temperament. • Emotionality was the only temperament trait that correlated with children’s eating behaviors

  10. Conclusion: • Emotional children are more subjected to emotional under- or over-eating • Early temperament is likely to be associated with later eating problems • Limitations include: reliance on parental reporting, examination of only 4 temperament traits and absence of objective height & weight measurements • Feeding practices that parents use with their children is a relative factor in this study, but wasn’t included • Further work is needed to explore the findings

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