4.7 Article

Bidirectional Associations between Restrained Eating and Body Mass Index in Middle Childhood

Journal

NUTRIENTS
Volume 13, Issue 5, Pages -

Publisher

MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/nu13051485

Keywords

dietary restraint; body mass index; middle childhood; childhood obesity

Funding

  1. USDA-CSREES [2004-05545]
  2. Oklahoma Center for Advancement of Science and Technology [HR07-044]
  3. Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station [2744]

Ask authors/readers for more resources

This study found a significant association between weight in grade 3 and dietary restraint in grade 4 among children. However, dietary restraint in grade 3 was not associated with weight in grade 4. Child sex and race/ethnicity were not associated with BMIz or dietary restraint at any time point.
The nature of the association between dietary restraint and weight has been examined in adult samples, but much less is known about this relationship among children. The current study examined the transactional associations among restrained eating behavior and weight among boys and girls during middle childhood. Data for this study came from 263 children participating in the Families and Schools for Health Project (FiSH), a longitudinal study of the psychosocial correlates of childhood obesity. Participants were interviewed by trained researchers in their third- and fourth-grade year when they completed questionnaires and anthropometric assessments. Dietary restraint was assessed using the restrained eating subscale of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), and weight was assessed using Body Mass Index z-scores (BMIz). Bidirectional associations between variables were examined using cross-lagged models controlling for children's sex, ethnicity, and weight in first grade. Results indicated that weight in grade 3 was related to greater dietary restraint in grade 4 (B = 0.20, p = 0.001), but dietary restraint in grade 3 was not associated with weight in grade 4 (B = 0.01, p = 0.64). Neither child sex nor race/ethnicity were associated with BMIz or dietary restraint at either time point. Findings from this study advance the existing limited understanding of eating behavior development among children and show that weight predicts increases in children's dietary restraint in middle childhood.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.7
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available