Relationships between Temperament and eating

Behaviours in young ChildrenSari Bornstein

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

Background:

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

Purpose:

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

Hypothesis:

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

Participants:

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 4 food 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

Methods:

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)

Data:

Shyness

Emotionality

Sociability

Activity

BMI

FOOD APPROACH

Food responsiveness X

Emotional over-eating X X

Enjoyment of food X

Desire to drink X

FOOD AVOIDANT

Satiety responsiveness X

Slowness in eating X X

Emotional under-eating X

Food fussiness X

Results:

X indicates a positive correlationX indicates a negative correlation

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

Summary:

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

Conclusion: