Abstract
BackgroundThis longitudinal community study investigated the role of individual risk factors in early childhood (before age five) for the development of eating problems in adolescence. Nine hundred twenty-one mothers completed the first questionnaire when their child was 1.5 years old, and again when their child was 2.5 (n = 784) and 4.5 (n = 737) years old. Three hundred seventy-three of these children completed the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT) when they were 16 years old.ResultsMother-rated early childhood sleep problems (assessed before the age of five) predicted self-rated eating problems in adolescents, with gender, birth weight, and a number of early childhood internal and environmental factors controlled. Unexpectedly, early childhood eating problems were not associated with later eating problems.ConclusionsThe possible role of sleep in the development of eating problems needs further investigation. In particular, mediating mechanisms should be studied more closely.
Highlights
This longitudinal community study investigated the role of individual risk factors in early childhood for the development of eating problems in adolescence
No longitudinal association was reported between childhood picky eating and eating concerns at age 14 in another study conducted by Martin and collaborators [7]
Predictor variables used in the current study were all assessed before age five, and before the adolescent eating problems were assessed
Summary
This longitudinal community study investigated the role of individual risk factors in early childhood (before age five) for the development of eating problems in adolescence. Existing longitudinal studies on risk factors for eating problems have generally relied on relatively short time spans [5] and have reported that the best predictor of late adolescence eating problems was an already present eating problem score at age 12 [5]. Only a small number of prospective studies have assessed eating behavior in younger children (under the age of 10 years) and followed the respondents into adolescence In one of these studies, Kotler, Cohen, Davies and collaborators [6] showed that negative affect at mealtimes, struggles with food, and eating conflicts in early childhood predicted eating problems in adolescence, whereas five other types of problematic eating behaviors – including picky eating – were not predictive. For picky eating, some studies show long-term associations with adolescence eating problems, whereas other do not
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