The Influence of Child Attachment Security on the Relationship Between Feeding Responsiveness and Picky Eating Behavior

Objective At a young age, the caregiver and child create bonds that may influence how responsive they are to each other. The types of feeding practices can be categorized by different levels of responsiveness. Responsiveness may influence if the child interacts with the caregivers and at mealtime. This study aims to assess if attachment moderates the relationship between feeding responsiveness and picky eating behavior. Methods A subsample of participants (n = 110) were examined. Participants received questionnaires when the child was 6 weeks and 18-24 months. At 18-24 months, the families participated in a home visit to videotape a mealtime. Parent feeding responsiveness was coded from the videotaped mealtimes. Child attachment security was assessed using Attachment Behavior Q-Set. Picky eating was assessed with two validated questionnaires, one modeling the variable as dichotomous and one as continuous. Results Multiple regression models were used to assess the relationship between the variables. Using picky eating as a dichotomous and continuous variable, feeding responsiveness and child attachment were both independently associated with picky eating. The higher picky eating scores were associated with lower feeding responsiveness and lower attachment levels. There was also no significant association involving the interaction with all three variables. Conclusions This research shows that picky eating is predicted by parent feeding responsiveness and child attachment. Strategies to reduce picky eating behaviors in early childhood may help childhood development. Attachment with the caregiver is important for picky eating and may affect parents’ responses to children’s satiety cues during the mealtime.National Dairy CouncilThe Gerber FoundationThe Christopher Family FoundationThe U. S. Department of AgricultureThe National Institutes of Health; DK107561The Illinois Association for Infant Mental Health Norton AwardThe U.S. Department of Agriculture for funding provided to the Illinois Transdisciplinary Obesity Prevention ProgramOpe

Six-minute walking test performance relates to neurocognitive abilities in preschoolers

This study investigated the relationship between six-minute walking test (6MWT) distance walked and preschool-aged children\u27s academic abilities, and behavioral and event-related potentials (ERP) indices of cognitive control. There were 59 children (25 females; age: 5.0 ± 0.6 years) who completed a 6MWT (mean distance: 449.6 ± 82.0 m) to estimate cardiorespiratory fitness. The Woodcock Johnson Early Cognitive and Academic Development Test evaluated academic abilities. A modified Eriksen flanker, hearts and flowers task, and auditory oddball task eliciting ERPs (N2, P3) assessed cognitive control. After adjusting for adiposity, diet, and demographics, linear regressions resulted in positive relationships between 6MWT distance and General Intellectual Ability (β = 0.25, Adj

Table_1_Temperament and emotional overeating: the mediating role of caregiver response to children’s negative emotions.DOCX

ObjectiveThis 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.MethodA 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.ResultsFindings 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.ConclusionThe 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.</p

Six-Minute Walking Test Performance Relates to Neurocognitive Abilities in Preschoolers

This study investigated the relationship between six-minute walking test (6MWT) distance walked and preschool-aged children’s academic abilities, and behavioral and event-related potentials (ERP) indices of cognitive control. There were 59 children (25 females; age: 5.0 ± 0.6 years) who completed a 6MWT (mean distance: 449.6 ± 82.0 m) to estimate cardiorespiratory fitness. The Woodcock Johnson Early Cognitive and Academic Development Test evaluated academic abilities. A modified Eriksen flanker, hearts and flowers task, and auditory oddball task eliciting ERPs (N2, P3) assessed cognitive control. After adjusting for adiposity, diet, and demographics, linear regressions resulted in positive relationships between 6MWT distance and General Intellectual Ability (β = 0.25, Adj R2 = 0.04, p = 0.04) and Expressive Language (β = 0.30, Adj R2 = 0.13, p = 0.02). 6MWT distance was positively correlated with congruent accuracy (β = 0.29, Adj R2 = 0.18, p &lt; 0.01) and negatively with incongruent reaction time (β = −0.26, Adj R2 = 0.05, p = 0.04) during the flanker task, and positively with homogeneous (β = 0.23, Adj R2 = 0.21, p = 0.04) and heterogeneous (β = 0.26, Adj R2 = 0.40, p = 0.02) accuracy on the hearts and flowers task. Higher fit children showed faster N2 latencies and greater P3 amplitudes to target stimuli; however, these were at the trend level following the adjustment of covariates. These findings indicate that the positive influence of cardiorespiratory fitness on cognitive function is evident in 4–6-year-olds