Analysis of association between eating behaviours and childhood obesity among pre-school children: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Childhood obesity is a worldwide critical health concern. We aimed to clarify whether eating behaviours increased the risk of childhood obesity.

Methods: We recruited 2,049 pre-school children aged 3-6 years between 1 December 2021 and 31 January 2022 in Taizhou, China. Children's weight status was classified according to the International Obesity Task Force criteria, and their eating behaviours were evaluated using the Children's Eating Behaviour Questionnaire. Correlation analyses, linear regressions, and one-way ANCOVA. were performed to analyse the association between children's eating behaviours and weight status.

Results: In 'Food Avoidant' subscales, the scores of satiety responsiveness (P < 0.001) and slowness in eating (P = 0.001) were negatively associated with body mass index z score among pre-school children of both sexes. In 'Food Approach' subscales, the score of enjoyment of food was positively associated with body mass index z score in both boys (P = 0.007) and girls (P = 0.035), but the association of scores of food responsiveness with body mass index z score was found only in girls (P = 0.001).

Conclusion: Our results supported that pre-school children with low scores in 'Food Avoidant' subscales and high scores in 'Food Approach' scales were more likely to become obese.

Keywords: children's eating behaviour questionnaire; eating behaviours; obesity; pre-school children; weight status.

Figure 1

CEBQ scores for children with different weight status (N = 1935). The general linear model was adjusted for following covariates: children's age, children's living environment, parents’ weight status, parents’ educational level, parents’ occupation, yearly family income, number of siblings. SR: satiety responsiveness. SE: slowness in eating, EUE: emotional under-eating, FF: food fussiness, EOE: emotional over-eating, FR: food responsiveness, EF: enjoyment of food, DD: desire to drink. ^a,bMean values within each subscale with unlike superscript letters were significantly different: P < 0.05.