Influences of Child Temperament and Household Chaos on Preschoolers' Emotional Eating

The development of emotional overeating: a longitudinal twin study from toddlerhood to early adolescence

BACKGROUND

Previous research has estimated the genetic and environmental contribution to individual differences in emotional overeating in toddlerhood and early childhood. However, little is known how this behaviour tracks into adolescence. Here, we aimed to replicated previous work and examine the aetiology of stability and change in emotional overeating across time.

METHODS

Data were from the UK Gemini Twin Study, which includes 2402 twin pairs born in 2007. Parents reported on children's emotional overeating at 16 months (n = 3784), 5 years (n = 2064), and 12 years (n = 964), using the Emotional Overeating Scale of the Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ) at 5 and 12 years, and the CEBQ-T (toddler version) at 16 months. A Cholesky Decomposition twin model was used to quantify the additive genetic, shared, and nonshared environmental influences on emotional overeating at each time point, partitioned into aetiological effects unique to each age and those carried across time.

RESULTS

Additive genetic effects were minimal at 16 months and 5 years (9% and 7% respectively) but increased to 34% by 12 years. Shared environmental effects explained the majority of variance in emotional overeating at all three time points, but significantly less at 12 years (41%) than earlier (> 81%). The longitudinal phenotypic associations (r = 0.23-0.43) were explained by the shared environment.

CONCLUSION

The shared environment plays a major role in the development of emotional overeating in early life. Most aetiological influences on emotional overeating were unique to each age, indicating the need for family-based interventions targeted to each developmental stage.

Maternal postpartum depression and children's emotional overeating: The mediating role of executive function

OBJECTIVES

The literature shows connections between maternal depression, children's executive function (EF), and emotional overeating (EOE). This study examined the interplay between maternal postpartum depression, EF, and EOE. We hypothesized that higher levels of postpartum depression would lead to lower inhibition and emotional control and higher levels of EOE. We also explored whether inhibition and emotional control mediate the relationship between postpartum depression and EOE.

METHODS

The analysis included 297 families (49 % of children were female at birth; 82 % of caregivers were White) from a longitudinal birth cohort study in the US Midwest (N = 468). Maternal self-reports assessed postpartum depression at six weeks using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Children's EF at 24 months was measured with the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version, and EOE at 48 months was assessed using the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire.

RESULTS

While accounting for child gender, parent race, and education, there was a positive indirect effect of postpartum depression on EOE through children's inhibitory and emotional control difficulties. There was also a significant direct effect between postpartum depression and EOE. These results suggest that higher levels of postpartum depression in mothers may be associated with children's lower EF abilities (e.g., inhibition and emotional control), which may, in turn, lead to higher levels of EOE.

CONCLUSION

Early maternal depressive symptoms may have important implications for children's EF and EOE behaviors. The current findings stress the need to address symptoms of postpartum depression in mothers, even though symptoms may not reach clinical levels.

Individual characteristics and environmental factors influencing preschoolers' emotional eating

Emotional eating, which refers to eating in response to emotional states, is prevalent in early childhood. Executive function (EF) and sleep problems are related to preschoolers' self-regulatory abilities during the day and night and have been reported to be associated with their emotional eating. These associations can be stronger in emotionally stressful situations, such as controlling feeding practices. This study explored the role of preschoolers' EF and sleep problems as child characteristics, as well as maternal feeding practices as environmental factors influencing emotional eating during the preschool period. Participants included 363 Korean mothers with preschoolers aged 3- to 5-years old (190 boys, 173 girls). Mothers reported on their own feeding practices, and preschoolers' EF, sleep problems, and emotional eating. Results indicated that preschoolers' EF was negatively associated with emotional over- and undereating, and this association was stronger when mothers applied more pressure to eat. Maternal monitoring had a similar effect, with emotional overeating exerting a greater impact with low levels of maternal monitoring. Finally, maternal pressure to eat moderated the influence of preschoolers' sleep problems on emotional overeating, with higher pressure to eat predicting a stronger relationship between sleep problems and emotional overeating. These findings suggest that maternal feeding practices, which are relatively modifiable, should be considered an important element in intervention programs aimed at preventing emotional eating in preschool children.

Biopsychosocial pathways model of early childhood appetite self-regulation: Temperament as a key to modulation of interactions among systems

The widespread discrimination against individuals with obesity often stems from a simplistic perception of obesity as a mere consequence of personal choices of overeating and insufficient physical activity. This reductionist perception fails to acknowledge the complexity of the epidemic of obesity, which extends beyond diet and exercise decisions. The concept of appetite self-regulation (ASR) has been explored as a crucial element in identifying obesogenic behavioral approaches to food. Although an extensive understanding of ASR in children is essential as an early precursor and modifiable factor influencing obesity, the prevailing view of self-regulation of eating solely as a matter of cognitive and behavioral processing tends to overlook interacting systems of influences. This narrow approach attributes obesity to the lack of voluntary self-control in food consumption while neglecting to account for the biological, psychological, and social influences implicated in the developmental processes of ASR, which may further contribute to the stigmatization of obesity. The current critical analysis provides a comprehensive developmental framework that could guide future studies with testable hypotheses, outlining pathways of interactions among biopsychosocial systems, all of which contribute to the development of ASR in early childhood. Adopting developmental perspectives allows a holistic approach to investigating ASR, which accounts for intricate interactions between biological (B), psychological (P), and social (S) factors influential in the early manifestation of ASR.

Applying the Family Stress Model to responsive feeding and early obesity prevention

Rapid weight gain during infancy and obesity during early childhood may lead to adverse health outcomes during later childhood and into adulthood, especially in families experiencing economic hardship. Families experiencing economic hardship may also experience food insecurity, which can impact child development and responsive feeding, an important target for obesity prevention in early life. The Family Stress Model suggests that stress, particularly economic hardship, can negatively impact parents' mental health, parenting, and quality of family relationships. This review proposes a conceptual model that expands upon the original Family Stress Model by including parent-child dyadic interactions during feeding (i.e., responsive feeding) as well as the coparenting relationship around feeding. Our conceptual model integrates responsive feeding into the Family Stress Model and includes the impact of food insecurity on feeding and child health outcomes. Such models that consider multiple influences on child development have implications for the design of effective interventions to promote healthy growth for entire families. Future directions in this research will empirically test the model and explore early intervention strategies that aim to promote responsive feeding, nutrition security, and health within families. Continuing interdisciplinary research between the fields of nutrition and family development will be key to addressing the complex interplay of family stressors, parent responsiveness, and childhood obesity.

Temperament and emotional overeating: the mediating role of caregiver response to children's negative emotions

Objective

This study aimed to investigate the mediating effects of caregiver responses to a child's negative emotions on the associations between infant temperament and emotional overeating in preschool children.

Method

A sample of 358 children and their caregivers enrolled in the STRONG Kids 2 (SK2) birth cohort study (N = 468) provided data for this analysis. Caregivers completed questionnaires assessing child temperament at 3 months, caregiver response to negative emotions at 18 months, and child emotional overeating at 36 months. Structural Equation Modeling was conducted using the lavaan package in RStudio to test hypothesized models examining whether the relations between early temperament and subsequent emotional eating were mediated by caregiver responses to a child's emotions.

Results

Findings revealed that infant temperamental orienting/regulation predicted the later development of emotional overeating through supportive caregiver responses to a child's negative emotions. Lower levels of orienting/regulation were associated with greater emotional overeating, explained by less supportive caregiver responses to the child's emotions. Moreover, infant surgency had a positive direct influence on emotional overeating at 36 months. Both supportive and non-supportive caregiver responses to a child's negative emotions had significant direct influences on emotional overeating.

Conclusion

The results highlight the importance of caregiver response to a child's negative emotions as a mediator between infant temperament and emotional overeating in preschool children. Intervention strategies can be implemented to support caregivers in adopting supportive responses to their child's negative emotions to promote healthy eating behaviors from early childhood. Future studies are needed to explore these pathways of influences throughout child development.