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

Meg Lawless1, Lenka H Shriver1, Laura Hubbs-Tait2

  • 1Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina Greensboro, 319 College Avenue, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA.

Nutrients
|April 30, 2021
PubMed

Insights

In middle childhood, a child's weight predicts later increases in dietary restraint, but not vice versa. This study explored the link between eating behaviors and weight in children.

Area of Science:

  • Child Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Obesity Research

Background:

  • The relationship between dietary restraint and weight is well-studied in adults, but less understood in children.
  • Childhood obesity is a growing concern, necessitating research into contributing factors like eating behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the transactional associations between restrained eating behavior and weight in middle childhood.
  • To examine if weight influences dietary restraint or if dietary restraint influences weight over time in children.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study of 263 children (Families and Schools for Health Project).
  • Data collected in third and fourth grade, including questionnaires and anthropometric assessments.
  • Dietary restraint measured using the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ); weight assessed via Body Mass Index z-scores (BMIz).
  • Cross-lagged models used to analyze bidirectional associations, controlling for sex and ethnicity.

Main Results:

  • Third-grade weight significantly predicted fourth-grade dietary restraint (B = 0.20, p = 0.001).
  • Third-grade dietary restraint did not predict fourth-grade weight (B = 0.01, p = 0.64).
  • Child sex and race/ethnicity were not associated with BMIz or dietary restraint.

Conclusions:

  • Weight in middle childhood appears to be a predictor of subsequent increases in dietary restraint.
  • Findings contribute to understanding the developmental trajectory of eating behaviors and their link to weight in children.
  • The study highlights a unidirectional relationship where weight influences dietary restraint, not the reverse, during this developmental period.

Keywords:
body mass indexchildhood obesitydietary restraintmiddle childhood

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