Table 1 An illustrative list of constructs applicable to ASR in childhood and their measurement
From: “Food” and “non-food” self-regulation in childhood: a review and reciprocal analysis
Construct | First author, publication year | Sample description/age focus for reviews | Construct Measurement | Study design | Results/selected findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bottom up (approach) | |||||
Food responsiveness | Carnell (2016) [97] | 4–5 year old UK children and mothers, mainly White British | CEBQ | Cross-sectional, with preloading and observed lunch intake plus parent reported eating behaviors | Higher food responsiveness was linked to greater total food intake |
Cross (2014) [98] | Low income African American and Hispanic parents and their preschool children aged 4 years | CEBQ | Cross-sectional survey of parent rated eating behaviors and parent feeding practices | Food responsiveness related to mothers’ restrictive feeding practices | |
Reward sensitivity/response to food and food cues | Adise (2019) [99] | 7–11 year old US children and families, mainly White, middle income | fMRI | Cross-sectional using neuro imaging assessment of brain responses to food and money rewards | Higher food responsiveness linked to decreased brain responses to winning food rewards. Regions associated with reward, cognitive control and emotion may play a role in the brain’s responses to food |
Yokum (2019) [100] | US adolescents 14–17 years, 77.7% European American | fMRI | Longitudinal design measuring neural activity for gained weight versus weight stable groups | Suggest that initial hyper-responsivity to palatable high-fat food tastes could be related to future weight gain | |
Shapiro (2019) [101] | From a pre-birth longitudinal cohort of US children, ethnically diverse. Tested at 4–6 years of age | fMRI | Cross-sectional with laboratory-based measurement of Eating in absence of hunger (EAH) and a brain scan | EAH was associated with activity in a major reward network, and reduced connectivity between brain regions associated with reward and those associated with response inhibition | |
Enjoyment of food | Carnell (2016) [97] | 4–5 year old UK children and mothers, mainly White British | CEBQ | Cross-sectional, with preloading and observed lunch intake plus parent reported eating behaviors | Higher enjoyment of food was linked to greater total food intake |
Cross (2014) [98] | Low income African American and Hispanic parents and their preschool children aged 4 years | CEBQ | Cross-sectional survey of parent rated eating behaviors and parent feeding practices | Higher enjoyment of food was linked to more restrictive feeding practices in African American families | |
Hedonic/reward aspects of food and hunger | Alonso-Alonso (2015) [102] | Not age-based | Review | Examined the neuroscience of food reward | Discussed homeostatic and non-homeostatic (related to the brain’s reward system) influences on the regulation of food intake |
Lowe (2007) [103] | Not age-based | Review | Examined hedonic hunger as a new eating motive | Proposed a distinction between homeostatic and hedonic eating | |
Subliminal reward signals | de Araujo (2020) [104] | Not age-based | Review | Examined human and animal research about processes associated with food reward | Proposed a two-path model of food reward that included subliminal reward signals and conscious liking |
Reward neurocircuitry | Reichelt (2015) [105] | Not age-based | Review | Examined neurocircuitry associated with the reinforcing value of foods and inhibitory control | Set out a model of food cue effects on homeostatic appetite signals and reward neurocircuitry |
Emotional eating/over-eating | Lumeng (2014) [106] | Low-income (Head Start) US children aged 3–4 years and parents | CEBQ | Cross-sectional using parent questionnaires plus child weight and cortisol measures | Family stress was linked to overweight, with this mediated by emotional eating in boys |
External eating | Jahnke (2008) [107] | German mothers of preschool children aged 3–6 years. Diverse SES | DEBQ | Cross-sectional using parent-questionnaires | Overweight children scored higher on external eating |
Consumption of problematic foods | Jahnke (2008) [107] | German mothers of preschool children aged 3–6 years, diverse SES | Parent reports of child food consumption | Cross-sectional using parent questionnaires | Parent ratings showed that children with higher weight status ate significant less problematic food |
Healthy food preferences | Anzman-Frasca (2018) [108] | Prenatal to early childhood | Review | Examined evidence about promoting healthy food preferences | Early exposure to healthy foods can support subsequent acceptance of these foods |
Russell (2016) [109] | Diverse sample of Australian preschool children aged 3–5 years and parents | Parent reports of food preferences | Cross-sectional, with measures of parent-reported child appetitive traits (CEBQ) and food preferences | Healthy food preferences were related to enjoyment of food, satiety responsiveness and fussiness | |
Eating in the absence of hunger (EAH) | Leung (2014) [58] | Low-income (Head Start) US preschool children and their caregivers, diverse in race and ethnicity | Observed EAH using the free access protocol | Cross-sectional with measures of parent-reports of temperament and obesogenic eating behaviors plus observed EAH | Higher temperamental surgency, but not effortful control, was related to more EAH |
Impulsivity | Bennett (2016) [110] | UK parents (mainly tertiary educated) and their children aged 2–4 years | Parent ratings on ECBQ, and child impulsivity, plus laboratory assessments of child impulsivity | Cross-sectional, using parent questionnaires and laboratory measures | Girls high in trait-like impulsivity and boys high in motor impulsivity could be more prone to display food approach behaviors associated with weight gain when parents monitor their intake less. |
Disinhibited eating | Shapiro (2019) [101] | From a pre-birth longitudinal cohort of US children, ethnically diverse. Tested at 4–6 years of age | Disinhibited eating measured using the EAH free access protocol | Cross-sectional with laboratory measurement of EAH and a brain scan | Provided new evidence of the neuronal correlates of disinhibited eating in young children |
Russell (2018) [29] | Childhood | Review | Narrative review of development of appetitive traits using insights from research and theory in developmental science | Outlined a biopsychosocial model of the development of appetitive traits, including disinhibited eating in childhood | |
Eating rate | Carnell (2007) [111] | UK children 4–5 years of age and parents (mainly mothers, White British and affluent) | Observed eating rate | Cross-sectional with observed eating behaviors plus parent-completed CEBQ | Faster eating was linked to higher food responsiveness and enjoyment of food. Slower eating was linked to higher satiety responsiveness |
Bottom up (avoidance) | |||||
Food neophobia/picky eating | Russell (2018) [29] | Childhood | Review | Narrative review of development of appetitive traits using insights from research and theory in developmental science | Outlined a biopsychosocial model of the development of appetitive traits, including food neophobia in childhood |
Cole (2017) [112] | Children less than 30 months of age | Review | Examined correlates of picky eating and food neophobia at different levels, for example, genetic, child, family, community | Highlighted the importance of investigating parent-child dyads and bidirectional feeding patterns | |
Russell (2008) [113] | Population-based sample of Australian children 2–5 years and parents | CFNS | Cross-sectional, with measures of parent-reported food neophobia and food preferences | Food neophobia was negatively correlated with liking for all foods in the healthy food group of Australian Healthy Eating Guide | |
Lumeng (2018) [114] | Low income US children and mothers. Entered study at 21 or 27 months of age. | CEBQ, BAMBI | Cross-lagged cohort questionnaire study at 21, 27 and 33 months of age | Concurrent association were found between picky eating and pressuring feeding, but no prospective associations | |
Food fussiness | Gregory (2010) [115] | Australian mothers of children 2–4 years mostly tertiary educated and Australian born | CEBQ | Cross-sectional using parent questionnaires about child eating behaviors, parent feeding, and concerns about child weight | Food fussiness predicted maternal pressure to eat, partially mediated by concern about child underweight |
Food avoidance | Powell (2011) [116] | UK mothers of children 3–6 years, mostly White British | CEBQ | Cross-sectional with parent reports of parent feeding behaviors and child food avoidance | Maternal feeding practices significantly predicted child food avoidance |
Emotional undereating | Bjorklund (2018) [117] | Representative community sample of Norwegian children 6–10 years and parents | CEBQ | Longitudinal with measures of child and contextual predictors of change in emotional over- and undereating | Lower family functioning at age 6 predicted emotional undereating at age 10 |
Herle (2018) [118] | Subsample from Twins Early Development study at age 4 years, mainly White British | CEBQ | Cross-sectional with measures of genetic and environmental factors contributing to emotional over-and undereating | Genetic contributions to emotional undereating were not significant. Shared environmental factors explained 77% of the variance | |
Slowness in eating | Llewellyn (2010) [98] | Population-based sample of infant twins from England and Wales | BEBQ | Cross sectional heritability analysis of scales from BEBQ | Heritability was high for slowness in eating |
Top down | |||||
Delay-of-gratification | Lelakowski (2019) [72] | Diverse US sample of mothers, children aged 24–30 months | Snack delay task | Longitudinal, with measures of child temperament, parent feeding and child BMI | Impulsivity but not inhibitory control (snack delay task) was related to BMI |
Kidd (2013) [119] | US children aged 3–5 years | Marshmallow wait task | Cross-sectional with measures of children’s wait time and beliefs about environmental reliability | Wait time reflected differences in self-control and beliefs about the stability of the world | |
Reward/delay discounting | Bennett (2019) [120] | UK children aged 7–11 years and parents, mainly White middle class | Delay discounting task as a measure of impulsivity | Cross-sectional with measures of child impulsivity, adiposity, intake during a snack, and eating behaviors | Poorer performance on delay discounting was associated with greater snack intake |
EC inhibitory control | Rollins (2014) [121] | US children aged 3–7 years and parents mainly White, middle to high income | CBQ | Short-term longitudinal with measures of restrictive feeding practices, intake of restricted food and child weight | Children with lower inhibitory control and higher approach showed greater increase in intake in association with experience of parental restriction |
Tan (2011) [122] | US parents with children 3–9 years | CBQ | Cross-sectional with measures of child self-regulation in eating, inhibitory control and parents’ feeding behavior | Self-regulation in eating was positively correlated with inhibitory control | |
EF inhibitory control | Fogel (2019) [123] | Children from an Asian cohort aged 6 years | Stop signal task as measure of inhibitory control | Cross-sectional with measures of child inhibitory control, eating behavior and adiposity | Lower inhibitory control was related to selecting larger food portion, multiple food servings and faster eating rates |
Shapiro (2019) [124] | From a pre-birth longitudinal cohort of US children, ethnically diverse. Tested at 4–6 years of age | Flanker task as measure of inhibitory control | Cross-sectional with measures of biomarkers of poor metabolic health and performance on cognitive tasks | Greater blood biomarkers of poor metabolic health were related to lower inhibitory control | |
Others/both top-down and bottom-up | |||||
Homeostatic and hedonic systems cross-talk | Higgs (2017) [125] | Not age-based | Review | Examined evidence about the integration of metabolic, reward and cognitive processes in appetite control | Favors a framework that emphasizes cross-talk between the neurochemical substrates of hedonic and homeostatic systems |
Berthoud (2017) [126] | Not age-based | Review | Examined hedonic and homeostatic controls in the regulation of body weight | Presents neural models of the interaction between homeostatic and hedonic controls | |
Interoception | Keller (2018) [127] | Children | Review | Examined the role of the brain in children’s food choice and eating behavior, including brain regions associated with interoception | Noted findings suggesting a reduced awareness of internal homeostatic cues among individuals prone to obesity |
Alliesthesia | Higgs (2017) [125] | Not age-based | Review | Examined evidence about the integration of metabolic, reward and cognitive processes in appetite control | Discussed alliesthesia: food is more liked when hungry, less so when eating when full. Noted associations with decreases in reward-related brain activations |
Berridge (2010) [128] | Not age-based | Review | Examined brain mechanisms associated with obesity or eating disorders, including alliesthesia | Suggested possible brain-based mechanisms for hunger increasing “liking” and “wanting” food | |
Caloric compensation | Carnell (2007) [111] | UK children 4–5 years of age and parents, (mainly mothers, White British and affluent) | Observed using preload protocol | Cross-sectional with measures of children’s ability to regulate intake depending on the caloric content of a preload plus parent-completed CEBQ | Higher satiety responsiveness (CEBQ) was associated with better average caloric compensation |
Compensation for energy density | Brugaileres (2019) [129] | French infants at 11 and 15 months of age and mothers | Observed using preload protocol | Short-term longitudinal with measures of changes in adjustment of intake to energy density | At both ages, infants undercompensated for the energy of the preload. Compensation ability decreased from 11 to 15 months. The greater the decrease, the higher weight status at 2 years of age |
Johnson (2000) [28] | High SES US children 4–5 years of age and parents | Preload protocol | Short-term longitudinal intervention to help children recognize cues of satiety and hunger to compensate for energy density | Large individual differences in self-regulation at baseline. The intervention improved children’s self-regulation | |
Compensation across meals and over days | Leahy (2008) [130] | US children 3–5 years of age. Parents mostly White with a university degree | Varied energy density of prepared meals | Short-term longitudinal with measures of intake in response to differences in energy density over 2 days using a cross-over design | A decrease in energy density led to a decrease in energy intake; children did not compensate in their energy intake (calories) according to the energy density of the meals |
Food choice/processed food effects | Small (2019) [131] | Not age-based | Review | Examined two systems driving food choice: metabolic signals about nutritional content, and conscious perceptions e.g., about flavor, caloric content, healthfulness | Argues there is evidence that nutritional signals about processed food are not accurately conveyed to the brain |
Food “liking” and “wanting” | Keller (2018) [127] | Children | Review | Examined the role of the brain in children’s food choice and eating behavior, including the neural drivers of food “liking” and “wanting” | Summarizes evidence about the neural drivers of affective response to food (“liking”) and the incentive salience of food (“wanting”) |
Berridge (2016) [132] | Not age-based | Review | Examined brain mechanisms associated with “wanting” a reward (including food) and “liking” the same reward | Addiction could be associated with excessive amplification of “wanting”, especially triggered by cues about anticipated rewards and pleasure. Heightened dopamine reactivity such as stress and emotions could increase “wanting” | |
Satiety responsiveness | Carnell (2016) [97] | 4–5 year old UK children and mothers, mainly White British | CEBQ | Cross-sectional, with preloading and observed lunch intake plus parent-reported eating behaviors | Higher satiety responsiveness was linked to lower total food intake |
Cross (2014) [98] | Low income African American and Hispanic parents and their preschool children | CEBQ | Cross-sectional using measures of parent-rated child eating behaviors and parent-reported feeding practices | Higher satiety responsiveness was associated with greater pressure to eat in African American families | |
Satiation and satiety | Blundell (2010) [133] | Not age-based | Review | Examined specific measures of satiation, satiety, hunger and food consumption, including “liking” and “wanting” | Sets out a model of the impact of foods on satiation and satiety. Discussed approaches to the measurement of satiation and satiety |
Bellisle (2012) [134] | Not age-based | Review | Examines the satiating power of foods with sweeteners. Included “liking” and “wanting” and their role | Highlighted methodological challenges in measuring satiation and satiety | |