Hohman Emily E, McNitt Katherine M, Eagleton Sally G, Francis Lori A, Keller Kathleen L, Savage Jennifer S
Center for Childhood Obesity Research, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States.
Department of Nutritional Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States.
Front Nutr. 2022 Jan 5;8:787461. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2021.787461. eCollection 2021.
Eating in the absence of hunger (EAH), a measure of children's propensity to eat beyond satiety in the presence of highly palatable food, has been associated with childhood obesity and later binge eating behavior. The EAH task is typically conducted in a research laboratory setting, which is resource intensive and lacks ecological validity. Assessing EAH in a group classroom setting is feasible and may be a more efficient alternative, but the validity of the classroom assessment against the traditional individually-administered paradigm has not been tested. The objective of this study was to compare EAH measured in a classroom setting to the one-on-one version of the paradigm in a sample of Head Start preschoolers. Children ( = 35) from three classrooms completed both classroom and individual EAH tasks in a random, counterbalanced order. In the group condition, children sat with peers at their classroom lunch tables; in the individual condition, children met individually with a researcher in a separate area near their classroom. In both conditions, following a meal, children were provided free access to generous portions of six snack foods (~750 kcal) and a selection of toys for 7 min. Snacks were pre- and post-weighed to calculate intake. Parents completed a survey of their child's eating behaviors, and child height and weight were measured. Paired -tests and intraclass correlation coefficients were used to compare energy intake between conditions, and correlations between EAH intake and child BMI, eating behaviors, and parent feeding practices were examined to evaluate concurrent validity. Average intake was 63.0 ± 50.4 kcal in the classroom setting and 53.7 ± 44.6 in the individual setting, with no significant difference between settings. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.57, indicating moderate agreement between conditions. Overall, the EAH protocol appears to perform similarly in classroom and individual settings, suggesting the classroom protocol is a valid alternative. Future studies should further examine the role of age, sex, and weight status on eating behavior measurement paradigms.
在不饿的时候进食（EAH），这一衡量儿童在面对美味食物时超越饱腹感进食倾向的指标，已被证实与儿童肥胖及后期的暴饮暴食行为有关。EAH任务通常在研究实验室环境中进行，这种方式资源消耗大且缺乏生态效度。在集体课堂环境中评估EAH是可行的，且可能是一种更高效的替代方法，但针对传统的个体施测范式，课堂评估的效度尚未得到检验。本研究的目的是在一组开端计划学前儿童样本中，比较在课堂环境中测得的EAH与该范式的一对一版本。来自三个教室的35名儿童以随机、平衡的顺序完成了课堂和个体EAH任务。在集体条件下，儿童与同伴坐在教室午餐桌旁；在个体条件下，儿童在教室附近的一个单独区域与研究人员单独见面。在两种条件下，用餐后，儿童可自由获取大量的六种零食（约750千卡）以及一系列玩具，时长为7分钟。零食在食用前后进行称重以计算摄入量。家长完成了一份关于其孩子饮食行为的调查问卷，并测量了孩子的身高和体重。采用配对t检验和组内相关系数来比较不同条件下的能量摄入量，并检验EAH摄入量与儿童BMI、饮食行为及家长喂养方式之间的相关性，以评估同时效度。在课堂环境中的平均摄入量为63.0±50.4千卡，在个体环境中为53.7±44.6千卡，两种环境之间无显著差异。组内相关系数为0.57，表明两种条件之间存在中度一致性。总体而言，EAH方案在课堂和个体环境中的表现似乎相似，这表明课堂方案是一种有效的替代方法。未来的研究应进一步考察年龄、性别和体重状况在饮食行为测量范式中的作用。
