The effects of age on associations between preschool children’s eating behaviour traits and diet quality

Alissa J. Burnett*, Catherine G. Russell, Claire Farrow, Alison C. Spence, Anthony Worsley, Kathleen E. Lacy

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Child eating behaviour traits are associated with several aspects of dietary intake of pre-school children, however the associations between child eating behaviour traits and overall dietary quality in pre-school children has not been examined. Additionally, it is unknown how these relationships vary by age. This study examines the associations between child eating behaviour traits and pre-school children's dietary quality and whether children's age moderates these associations. This study utilises cross-sectional online survey data collected from mothers (n = 1367) of pre-school aged children (2-5 years) from across Australia. The survey included a validated measure of four child eating behaviour traits and a validated measure of diet quality. Multiple linear regression assessed associations between child eating behaviour traits and dietary quality, including interactions between child eating behaviour traits and child age. The average age of the children was 3.3 years, with 50.2% reported as males. Enjoyment of food was positively associated with dietary quality (B coefficient: 2.51, p
Original languageEnglish
Article number107675
Number of pages7
JournalAppetite
Volume203
Early online date16 Sept 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2024

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Data Access Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, (A.J.B), upon reasonable request.

Keywords

  • Appetitive traits
  • Child dietary quality
  • Child eating behaviour traits
  • Pre-school children

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