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Updated: Jun 8, 2026

Control of Eating Behavior Using a Novel Feedback System
Published on: May 8, 2018
Children's self-regulation in eating: associations with inhibitory control and parents' feeding behavior
1School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080, USA.
Objective:
Children who self-regulate while eating and children who show high global self-regulation abilities, such as inhibitory control, are less likely to be overweight than children who do not show the same capacities for self-regulation. This study examined the association between child self-regulation in eating and inhibitory control, and investigated whether self-regulation is related to parents' restrictive feeding practices.
Method:
Sixty-three parents reported on their 3- to 9-year-old children's self-regulation in eating, inhibitory control, and their own feeding practices.
Results:
Self-regulation in eating and inhibitory control were positively correlated, r = .54. Self-regulation in eating predicted parents' use of restrictive feeding practices above and beyond children's inhibitory control and parents' concerns about their children's weight, p < .01.
Conclusions:
When parents believed their children could self-regulate, they used less restrictive feeding practices. Because restriction can compromise self-regulatory abilities, early interventions should teach parents about children's nascent abilities in this domain.
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