Parental Child-feeding in the Context of Child Temperament and Appetitive Traits: Evidence for a Biopsychosocial Process Model of Appetite Self-Regulation and Weight Status.

Jeffrey Liew,Zhiqing Zhou,Myeongsun Yoon,Mirim Kim,Marisol Perez

doi:10.3390/nu12113353

Jeffrey Liew, Zhiqing Zhou + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12113353

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Journal: Nutrients	Publication Date: Oct 30, 2020
Citations: 19	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Texas A&M University, Arizona State University

Abstract

Pediatric obesity is a serious public health challenge and there is a need for research that synthesizes the various linkages among the child and parental factors that contribute to pediatric overweight and obesity. The main objective of this study was to examine potential mechanisms and pathways that might explain how child temperament is indirectly related to child body composition through appetitive traits and parental child-feeding practices. Participants consisted of 221 children between 4–6 years of age (51% males, mean age = 4.80 years, standard deviation = 0.85) and their parents (90.5% biological mothers, (Mage) = 32.02 years, (SDage) = 6.43) with 71% of the parents being married. Study variables included child temperament (negative affectivity and effortful control), child appetitive traits (food avoidance and food approach), controlling parental child-feeding practices (restrictive feeding and pressure to eat), and child body composition. Body composition were indexed by parent perceptions, body mass index (BMI), and percent body fat. Results showed that children with low levels of effortful control are more prone to exhibit food avoidance, which in turn is likely to elicit parental pressure to eat that in turn is linked to high child weight status. In addition, children with high levels of negative affectivity are prone to exhibit a food approach, which in turn is likely to elicit restrictive feeding from parents that in turn is linked to high child objective weight status. Findings situate controlling parental child-feeding practices in the context of child temperament and appetitive traits using a biopsychosocial framework of appetite self-regulation and weight. Results highlight that child appetite self-regulation processes and parental child-feeding practices could be essential components to target in childhood obesity preventive interventions.

Highlights

Pediatric obesity has been recognized as one of the most serious public health challenges in the 21st century, because it is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality and often leads to significant financial, medical, and quality of life impacts [1,2]
Guided by a biopsychosocial framework, the present study examines the contributions of child temperament, child appetitive traits, and parental controlling child-feeding behaviors to child body composition (Body Mass Index or body mass index (BMI), percent body fat, and parental perception of child weight) in an economically and ethnically diverse sample of 4–6-year-old children
Reliabilities for food approach and food avoidance were adequate in our study and food approach and food avoidance tendencies were orthogonal constructs, which is consistent with the previous validation data of the Children’s Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) showing that the majority, but not all, of the subscales for the food approach construct are negatively related to the subscales for the food avoidance construct [36]

Summary

Introduction

Pediatric obesity has been recognized as one of the most serious public health challenges in the 21st century, because it is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality and often leads to significant financial, medical, and quality of life impacts [1,2]. Child temperament has been suggested as a factor that partly influences why some children are more likely than others to exhibit low levels of appetite self-regulation that over time could contribute to childhood overweight or obesity [3,4]. Very few studies have examined relations between children’s temperament and appetitive traits and their unique or joint contributions to weight status [3,5]. Despite the temperamental basis for emotional self-regulation and emotional or impulsive eating, the behaviors associated with such traits and parents’ responses to such traits and behaviors are modifiable through intervention [6]. According to a biopsychosocial model of the development of children’s overweight and obesity [7], child biological foundations (e.g., child temperament and child appetitive traits) are assumed to influence parents’ cognitions, expectations, and interpretations in addition to parents’

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