BACKGROUND Individual differences in temperament are believed to influence the development of children's eating behavior. This hypothesis has predominantly been tested in cross-sectional designs and important confounders such as genetics and stable parenting factors have not been accounted for. The present study aims to establish more clearly than previous studies if temperament is involved in the etiology of eating behavior in middle childhood. METHODS A community sample of Norwegian children (n = 997) were followed biennially from age 4 to age 10. Temperamental negative affectivity, effortful control, and surgency were measured by The Child Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ). The Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) captured four 'food approach' behaviors ('food responsiveness', 'enjoyment of food', 'emotional overeating', 'desire to drink') and four 'food avoidant' behaviors ('emotional undereating', 'satiety responsiveness', 'food fussiness', 'slowness in eating'). The prospective relationships between temperament and eating behavior were tested with fixed, random and hybrid effect models, which adjust for all unmeasured time-invariant factors (e.g. genetics, common methods over time) RESULTS: Over and above unmeasured time-invariant confounders, higher negative affectivity predicted more 'food approach' and 'food avoidant' behavior, as did low effortful control, although less consistently so. Greater surgency was prospectively related to more 'food approach' and less 'food avoidant' behavior, but only at some ages and with the exception of emotional over- and under-eating. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that temperament is involved in the etiology of children's eating behavior. Negative affectivity, in particular, may affect both 'food approach' and 'food avoidant' behavior. Because children prone to react with negative affect are at increased risk of obesogenic and disordered eating behaviors, their parents should be particularly aware of how to support healthy eating.

中文翻译：

---

气质作为童年中期饮食行为的预测指标——固定效应方法

背景 气质的个体差异被认为会影响儿童饮食行为的发展。该假设主要在横断面设计中进行了测试，并且尚未考虑重要的混杂因素，例如遗传学和稳定的养育因素。本研究旨在比以前的研究更清楚地确定气质是否与儿童中期饮食行为的病因有关。方法 对挪威儿童的社区样本 (n = 997) 从 4 岁到 10 岁每两年进行一次随访。通过儿童行为问卷 (CBQ) 测量气质负面情感、努力控制和冲动。儿童饮食行为问卷 (CEBQ) 捕获了四种“食物方法”行为（“食物反应”、“享受食物”、“ 情绪暴饮暴食”、“想喝酒”）和四种“食物回避”行为（“情绪低食”、“饱腹感反应”、“食物挑剔”、“进食缓慢”）。气质和饮食行为之间的前瞻性关系用固定、随机和混合效应模型进行了测试，这些模型调整了所有未测量的时不变因素（例如遗传学、随时间推移的常用方法） 结果：超过未测量的时不变混杂因素，更高的负面影响情感预测更多的“食物方法”和“食物回避”行为，低努力控制也是如此，尽管不太一致。更大的急迫性与更多的“食物方法”和更少的“食物回避”行为有关，但仅限于某些年龄段，除了情绪化的过度饮食和饮食不足。结论 我们的研究结果表明，气质与儿童饮食行为的病因有关。特别是负面情感可能会影响“食物方法”和“食物回避”行为。由于容易产生负面影响的儿童发生肥胖和饮食紊乱的风险增加，因此他们的父母应该特别注意如何支持健康饮食。