Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 16, 2026
A Treatment Package without Escape Extinction to Address Food Selectivity
Published on: August 21, 2015
A test to identify persistent picky eaters
Hannah Toyama1, W Stewart Agras1
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford, CA 94305, United States.
Background:
Picky eating is common and usually relatively brief as new foods are accepted. Persistent picky eating, however, is often associated with comorbid psychopathology.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to use parent-reported child feeding behaviors to identify which picky eaters persist.
Design:
Participants were a subsample from the Stanford Infant Growth Study a prospective study of child development. Out of the 216 infants, 86 were identified as picky eaters. Picky eaters were separated into two groups using a median split: short-term (n=40) and persistent picky eaters (n=46).
Results:
Recursive Partitioning detected three significant parent-reported feeding questions that may identify persistent picky eaters at an early age: Is your child a picky eater? (yes), does s/he have strong likes with regard to food (yes), does your child accept new foods readily? (no).
Discussion:
These results provide a first step allowing providers to identify persistent picky eaters and possibly enable intervention at an early age. Further studies are needed to replicate and extend these findings in another sample of picky eaters.
