Are eating behaviors related with by body mass index, gender and age?

Abstract

The present study was carried out with parents of 520 healthy children between the ages of 2-12 and their parents who were referred to the diet polyclinic of a hospital in Ankara. The data were collected through personal interviews. The interviews included identifying the characteristics of the child and his/her parents, anthropometric measurements, questions investigating eating status, and the Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire. According to the body mass index-Z scores, there were differences between subgroups of food responsiveness, emotional overeating, enjoyment of food, food fussiness, and slowness in eating. The gender-based desire to drink score was, on average, higher in boys. No gender-based differences were found in other subgroups, whereas the scores in the food fussiness and slowness in eating and emotional undereating were higher in the preschool group when analyzed by age. In conclusion, eating behaviors of overweight and obese children differ from those of normal and underweight children.