Validation of the adult eating behavior questionnaire in a Norwegian sample of adolescents

Eating behaviors are related to health and well-being. To examine stability and change in eating behaviors throughout life, developmentally appropriate measures capturing the same eating behavior dimensions are needed. The newly developed Adult Eating Behavior Questionnaire (AEBQ) builds on the well-established parent-reported Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ), and together with the corresponding Baby Eating Behavior Questionnaire (BEBQ), these questionnaires cover all ages. However, validation studies on adolescents are relatively sparse and have yielded somewhat conflicting results. The present study adds to existing research by testing the psychometric properties of the AEBQ in a sample of 14-year-olds and examining its construct validity by means of the parent-reported CEBQ. The current study uses age 14 data (analysis sample: n = 636) from the ongoing Trondheim Early Secure Study, a longitudinal study of a representative birth cohort of Norwegian children (baseline: n = 1007). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test the factorial validity of AEBQ. Construct validity was examined by bivariate correlations between AEBQ subscales and CEBQ subscales. CFAs revealed that a 7-factor solution of the AEBQ, with the Hunger scale removed, was a better-fitting model than the original 8-factor structure. The 7-factor model was respecified based on theory and model fit indices, resulting in overall adequate model fit (χ2 = 896.86; CFI = 0.924; TLI = 0.912; RMSEA = 0.05 (90% CI: 0.043, 0.051); SRMR = 0.06). Furthermore, small-to-moderate correlations were found between corresponding AEBQ and CEBQ scales. This study supports a 7-factor solution of the AEBQ without the Hunger scale and provide evidence of its construct validity in adolescents. Several of the CEBQ subscales were significantly associated with weight status, whereas this was the case for only one of the AEBQ scales

The prospective relation between eating behaviors and BMI from middle childhood to adolescence: A 5-wave community study

Some eating behaviors are associated with increased risk of childhood obesity and are thus potential targets for obesity prevention. However, longitudinal research, especially on older children and adolescents, is needed to substantiate such a claim. Using data from a representative birth cohort of Norwegian children followed up biennially from age 6 to age 14 (analysis sample: n = 802), we tested if change in eating behaviors predicts increased body mass index (BMI) throughout childhood and adolescence, or if it is the other way around; higher BMI predicting more obesogenic eating. Eating behaviors were measured using the Children's Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ) and BMI was measured objectively using digital scales. To separate within-person- and between-person effects and control for all time-invariant confounders (i.e., variables that do not change over the study period), we applied an autoregressive latent trajectory model with structured residuals (ALT-SR). Results showed that increases in obesogenic eating behaviors did not predict higher BMI at any age. It was the other way around: Increased BMI predicted increases in food responsiveness and emotional overeating at all time points, and enjoyment of food from 8 to 10 years and from 10 to 12 years. Furthermore, increased BMI predicted decreases in satiety responsiveness at all time points except from age 12 to age 14, as well as diminished emotional undereating from 12 to 14 years. One implication of our findings, if replicated, is that targeting obesogenic eating behaviors to change weight outcomes may be less effective in children older than age 6

Modern incursions of tropical Radiolaria into the Arctic Ocean

Plankton samples obtained by the Norwegian Polar Institute (August, 2010) in an area north of Svalbard contained an unusual abundance of tropical and subtropical radiolarian taxa (98 in 145 total observed taxa), not typically found at these high latitudes. A detailed analysis of the composition and abundance of these Radiolaria suggests that a pulse of warm Atlantic water entered the Norwegian Sea and finally entered into the Arctic Ocean, where evidence of both juvenile and adult forms suggests they may have established viable populations. Among radiolarians in general, this may be a good example of ecotypic plasticity. Radiolaria, with their high species number and characteristic morphology, can serve as a useful monitoring tool for pulses of warm water into the Arctic Ocean. Further analyses should be followed up in future years to monitor the fate of these unique plankton assemblages and to determine variation in northward distribution and possible penetration into the polar basin. The fate of this tropical fauna (persistence, disappearance, or genetic intermingling with existing taxa) is presently unknown. The current event may not be unique, nor a consequence of global warming, because analyses of sediment samples suggest that several natural pulses of warm water of this kind occurred in the prior century and, indeed, there may be more in years to come