The basis for healthy eating habits begins in early childhood. During infancy, children acquire the skills needed to manage their appetite through a mix of biological, psychological, and social influences. In a recent study, researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have created a model that examines these influences and their interplay, offering guidance to better understand how children regulate their appetite.
The basis for healthy eating habits begins in early childhood. During infancy, children acquire the skills needed to manage their appetite through a mix of biological, psychological, and social influences. Researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have introduced a model in a new publication that investigates these factors and their interactions, providing insight into childhood appetite self-regulation.
“When discussing obesity, the usual advice often simplifies the issue to just eating less and exercising more. This approach is overly simplistic and gives the impression that an individual’s willpower is the sole factor in their food choices,” said Sehyun Ju, the lead author and a Ph.D. student in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at Illinois.
Appetite self-regulation is linked to general self-regulation, but it particularly focuses on a person’s ability to manage their food intake, which is crucial for healthy growth and reducing obesity risk. While children are inherently capable of regulating their appetite based on hunger and fullness signals, increasing exposure to environmental factors leads to their eating patterns being influenced more by psychological reasoning and motivations. This highlights the need for a developmental viewpoint to track shifts in eating behaviors over time, according to Ju.
Ju and her team have developed a thorough framework grounded in the biopsychosocial pathways model, which identifies three interconnected categories:
- Biological factors, such as sensory experiences, physiological hunger and satiety signals, brain-gut interactions, and the impact of the gut microbiome
- Psychological factors, including emotional self-regulation, cognitive control, stress management, and reward processing
- Social factors, like parental behaviors and feeding strategies, cultural influences, geographic context, and food insecurity
The researchers merge this framework with temperamental theory to examine how individual temperament alters these pathways.
Children have differing reactions to stimuli based on their psychological and emotional profiles, as explained by Ju. For instance, a child’s willingness to try new foods can be influenced by their openness to new experiences and positive expectations. Conversely, if a parent pressures a child to eat, it might be counterproductive for a child who is more sensitive to negative emotions, leading to reduced food intake.
The model also considers the developmental phases of children. Infants initially rely on basic physiological cues for appetite regulation. As they grow, they become more influenced by external factors, and between the ages of 3 and 5, they start to exhibit improved self-control and emotional management.
“By analyzing the pathways presented in our model, we gain a better understanding of how various factors collectively influence children’s capacity to self-regulate their appetite and their attitudes towards food,” Ju stated. “For instance, not every child will react the same way to appealing food. Some may view it as a reward, while others may eat for pleasure or to cope with emotions. Motivations can vary significantly and are shaped by both external influences and individual temperament traits.”
Environmental influences include the dynamics of parent-child interactions related to food, along with non-food-related caregiving practices that impact a child’s emotional management. The overall food environment at home, as well as the cultural importance of food and its availability, are crucial factors identified by the researchers.
Scientists can utilize this model to guide their investigations, focusing on specific pathways relevant to their research interests.
For example, Ju and her colleague Kelly Bost, a professor of child development in HDFS, are conducting a study on parent-child interactions at mealtimes. Parents complete questionnaires while family dinners are recorded on video, allowing the researchers to analyze the interaction between the child and caregiver. The study assesses how children approach or avoid food and examines how temperament influences these dynamics.
“Understanding how different factors affect children allows us to identify and alter environmental influences that may contribute to obesity, tailored to children’s temperamental traits. This would enable us to implement more effective strategies to encourage healthy eating among children,” explained Ju.
“If children experience food insecurity, their reactions to food can reflect certain reward-seeking behaviors. Even if the food insecurity issue is addressed, we may still need to assist children in developing a healthy, positive relationship with food that isn’t driven by stress or used as a primary method for emotional fulfillment. By understanding these pathways, we can personalize our strategies to support children by considering all of these factors,” she concluded.
This research is part of the STRONG Kids 2 project, which explores how biological factors interact with family environments to foster healthy eating habits in young children.
