Validity of dietary restraint among 5- to 9-year old girls

Dietary restraint is defined as the cognitive tendency to restrict intake and is often accompanied by the breakdown of restraint, referred to as disinhibition, leading to overeating and overweight in adults. Given recent evidence suggesting that dietary restraint and disinhibition are emerging as early as middle childhood, this study examined the validity of the restraint construct as measured in girls between the ages of 5 and 9. Dietary restraint was assessed longitudinally by questionnaire and validity was established by correlating restraint with measures previously reported to be related to restraint including weight concerns, body esteem, self-reported dieting, and measures of dietary intake when girls were ages 5, 7, and 9. Participants were 153 girls from predominately middle class, and exclusively non-Hispanic white families living in central Pennsylvania. Correlational data were used to assess relationships between dietary restraint and weight concerns, body esteem, dietary intake, and dieting. Results from this study indicate that there is evidence for the validity of the dietary restraint construct among girls by age 9. Specifically, dietary restraint was highly and positively associated with body mass index, weight concerns and body dissatisfaction and negatively correlated with dietary intake, findings similar to those reported in the adult literature.