The Relationship Between Childhood Body Dissatisfaction and Overeating in the Laboratory
Open Access
- Author:
- Lutfy, Sofie Rugh
- Area of Honors:
- Nutritional Sciences
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Kathleen Loralee Keller, Thesis Supervisor
Jung In Kim, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Body Dissatisfaction
Eating in the absence of hunger
portion size
Body Mass Index
Weigh Status - Abstract:
- This study focuses on body dissatisfaction in children and overeating in the laboratory through a 7-visit series of studies tested on the same subjects. Thirty-seven children (age 7-8) participated in this longitudinal Food and Brain study that was designed to understand risk factors for overeating and obesity in children. The study consisted of 7 overall visits, outlined in Appendix A, Table 8, that measured different items during each individual visit. The subjects rated their level of body dissatisfaction through a questionnaire on the initial visit, figure 13-16 depicts the figure rating scale questionnaire used in the study. They were also presented with a variety of food portions and were put through an eating in the absence of hunger test and portion size test. All children were of healthy weight status, 46.1% were male subject and 49.4% female. This thesis aims to relate children’s perceived body dissatisfaction to objectively assessed food intake in response to larger portions of food and when children are served tasty treats immediately following a meal (i.e., eating in the absence of hunger). It was hypothesized that higher levels of body dissatisfaction would be positively associated with intake in response to portion size and with eating in the absence of hunger. From the study, we found no evidence of a relationship between body dissatisfaction and either eating in the absence of hunger or intake in response to larger portions. We conclude that among a small sample of healthy weight, 7-8-year-old children, we found no relationship between body dissatisfaction and laboratory measures of overeating.