Individual differences in several aspects of eating style have been implicated in the development of weight problems in children and adults, but there are presently no reliable and valid scales that assess a range of dimensions of eating style. This paper describes the development and preliminary validation of a parent-rated instrument to assess eight dimensions of eating style in children ; the Children's Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ). Constructs for inclusion were derived both from the existing literature on eating behaviour in children and adults, and from interviews with parents. They included reponsiveness to food, enjoyment of food, satiety responsiveness, slowness in eating, fussiness, emotional overeating, emotional undereating, and desire for drinks. A large pool of items covering each of these constructs was developed. The number of items was then successively culled through analysis of responses from three samples of families of young children (N l 131 ; N l 187 ; N l 218), to produce a 35-item instrument with eight scales which were internally valid and had good test-retest reliability. Investigation of variations by gender and age revealed only minimal gender differences in any aspect of eating style. Satiety responsiveness and slowness in eating diminished from age 3 to 8. Enjoyment of food and food responsiveness increased over this age range. The CEBQ should provide a useful measure of eating style for research into the early precursors of obesity or eating disorders. This is especially important in relation to the growing evidence for the heritability of obesity, where good measurement of the associated behavioural phenotype will be crucial in investigating the contribution of inherited variations in eating behaviour to the process of weight gain.

WARDLE, JANE, SASKIA SANDERSON, CAROL ANN GUTHRIE, LORNA RAPOPORT, AND ROBERT PLOMIN. Parental feeding style and the intergenerational transmission of obesity risk. Obes Res. 2002;10:453-462. Objective: This study was designed to determine whether a community sample of obese mothers with young children used different feeding styles compared with a matched sample of normal-weight mothers. Four aspects of feeding style were assessed: emotional feeding, instrumental feeding (using food as a reward), prompting/encouragement to eat, and control over eating. Research Methods and Procedures: Participants were from 214 families with same-sex twins; 100 families in which both parents were overweight or obese and 114 in which both parents were normal weight or lean. Results: We found that obese mothers were no more likely than normal-weight mothers to offer food to deal with emotional distress, use food as a form of reward, or encourage the child to eat more than was wanted. The obese and normal-weight mothers did differ on "control"; obese mothers reported significantly less control over their children's intake, and this was seen for both first-born and second-born twins. Twin analyses showed that these differences were not in response to children's genetic propensities, because monozygotic correlations were no greater than dizygotic correlations for maternal feeding style. Discussion: These results suggest that the stereotype of the obese mother, who uses food in nonnutritive ways so that her child also becomes obese, is more likely to be myth than fact. However, the results raise the possibility that lack of control of food intake might contribute to the emergence of differences in weight.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a modi®ed cognitive ± behavioural treatment (M-CBT) for weight management which addresses both the psychosocial costs and the physiological health risks of obesity, without a focus on weight loss. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial comparing M-CBT with standard cognitive ± behavioural therapy (S-CBT). SUBJECTS: Sixty-three overweight women with body mass index (BMI) ! 28 kgam 2 , mean age 47.5 and mean BMI 35.4. MEASURES: Weight, waist and hip circumference, blood lipids, blood glucose, blood pressure, psychological wellbeing, depression, self esteem, stress, binge eating, eating style, body image, nutrient intake, aerobic ®tness, activity levels, patient satisfaction with treatment. RESULTS: Both M-CBT and S-CBT achieved improvements in a broad range of physical, psychological and behavioural variables. Weight loss in the S-CBT group was greater than in the M-CBT group immediately after treatment, but both groups lost weight. Participants in the M-CBT group continued to lose weight up to the 1 y follow-up. M-CBT was evaluated positively by participants. CONCLUSIONS: Both M-CBT and S-CBT programmes were successful at inducing modest weight loss, as well as improving emotional well-being, reducing distress, increasing activity and ®tness, improving dietary quality and reducing cardio-vascular disease risk factors. The improvements were maintained or continued at 1 y follow-up. These results suggest that treatment based on the new weight-control paradigm which emphasizes sustained lifestyle change without emphasis on dieting, can produce modest bene®ts to health and well-being.

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WARDLE, JANE, JO WALLER, AND LORNA RAPOPORT. Body dissatisfaction and binge eating in obese women: the role of restraint and depression. Obes Res. 2001;9:778 -787. Objective: This study examined the association between body dissatisfaction and binge eating, and the mediating role of restraint and depression among obese women. Research Methods and Procedures: Participants were obese women taking part in a cognitive-behavioral treatment program who completed self-report measures at baseline (n ϭ 89) and post-treatment follow-up (n ϭ 69). Results: At baseline, body dissatisfaction was strongly correlated with binge eating score. This was partly a direct effect and partly mediated by depression. No mediating effect of restraint was observed. Over the treatment period, a reduction in body dissatisfaction was associated with a reduction in binge-eating score. As in the cross-sectional data, there was evidence for mediation by change in depression with the greatest improvement in binge eating among those who became more restrained and less depressed. Discussion: These results suggest that it would be valuable to address psychological well-being, and especially body image, as part of the management of binge-eating behavior in obesity.