Intergenerational transmission of appetite: Associations between mother-child dyads in a Mexican population

Abstract

The Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ) and the Adult Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (AEBQ) measure ‘food approach’ [Food responsiveness (FR); Emotional overeating (EOE); Enjoyment of food (EF); Desire to Drink] and ‘food avoidant’ [Satiety responsiveness (SR); Emotional undereating (EUE); Food fussiness (FF); Slowness in eating (SE)] appetitive traits (ATs) in children and adults, respectively. ‘Food approach’ traits predispose to overweight while ‘food avoidance’ traits provide protection, but little is known about the relationships between parents’ and their offspring’s ATs. The aim was to examine the associations between maternal and child appetitive traits, using the AEBQ-Esp and CEBQ-Mex adapted for use in Mexican populations. Sociodemographic data, weights and heights of mothers and their children (aged 3–13 years), who were recruited from a teaching hospital in Guadalajara, Mexico, were measured. Mothers completed both the AEBQ-Esp and the CEBQ-Mex. The CEBQ-Mex was developed, and its reliability was tested using Cronbach’s alpha and Omega, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to assess its validity. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were used to assess associations between mothers’ and children’s Ats. The sample included 842 mother-child dyads (mother’s mean age = 34.8±SD6.9 years, BMI 29.7±6.1 kg/m2; children’s mean age = 8.5 ±SD2.5 years, BMIz 1.5±1.6). Internal reliability was moderate to high [Cronbach alpha = .68-.86; Omega = .71-.87] for the CEBQ-Mex and validity was confirmed for an 8-factor model through CFA [RMSEA = 0.065; CFI = 0.840, NFI = 0.805; IFI = 0.842; and χ2(df = 532) = 2939.51, p < 0.001]. All but one of the children’s appetitive traits showed small to moderate, significant correlations with their mother’s counterpart [FR (r = .22; p<001); EOE (r = .30; p < .001); EF (r = .15; < .001); SR (r = .16; p < .001); EUE (r = .34; p < .001) and FF (r = .14; p < .001). Only SE was not significantly associated with maternal SE (r = .01; p>.05). ATs tend to run in families, signalling the intergenerational transmission of eating behaviours. These may be useful targets for family-wide interventions to support the development and maintenance of healthy eating behaviours in childhood.

Relationship between energy balance and reward system gene polymorphisms and appetitive traits in young Mexican subjects

“…These results differ from the original validation of the AEBQ-Esp, where alpha Cronbach values were 0.70 and 0.91, respectively, for these subscales ( 8 ). Lower internal reliability values have also been found when mothers of children ( 41 ) and toddlers ( 42 ) complete the AEBQ-Esp questionnaire, in samples of Mexican subjects. This could be due to the size of the population obtained in this sample.…”

Rasgos del apetito y su relación con el índice de masa corporal en estudiantes universitarios de Tuxtepec, Oaxaca, México: un estudio transversal

“…Por otra parte, aunque no se midieron los rasgos de todos los integrantes de la familia de los estudiantes, es imperioso resaltar que estos rasgos pueden tener una transmisión intergeneracional, como lo muestran en su estudio Hunot et al (2022b), donde se observa correlación entre los rasgos del apetito madre-hijo. En este sentido los resultados encontrados en este estudio pudieran reflejar de manera indirecta parte de los rasgos del apetito familiares.…”

Association between Maternal and Toddler Appetitive Traits in a Mexican Population

“…Small to moderate positive associations between maternal and child appetitive traits ("Food Responsiveness" (r = 0.22; p < 0.001); "Emotional Overeating" (r = 0.30; p < 0.001); "Enjoyment of Food" (r = 0.15; p < 0.001); "Satiety Responsiveness" (r = 0.16; p < 0.001); "Emotional Undereating" (r = 0.34; p < 0.001), and "Food Fussiness" (r = 0.14; p < 0.001)) were observed. No association was observed between maternal and child "Slowness in Eating" (r = 0.01; p > 0.05) [10]. An intergenerational relationship could exist between the mother's and toddler's appetitive traits; however, further research is required in this area.…”

“…Thus, many factors play a potential a role in the predisposition of toddlers to develop overweight or obesity. However, the results from a cross-sectional study conducted in a Mexican sample of mother-child dyads (aged [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] showed the relationships between maternal and child appetitive traits. Small to moderate positive associations between maternal and child appetitive traits ("Food Responsiveness" (r = 0.22; p < 0.001); "Emotional Overeating" (r = 0.30; p < 0.001); "Enjoyment of Food" (r = 0.15; p < 0.001); "Satiety Responsiveness" (r = 0.16; p < 0.001); "Emotional Undereating" (r = 0.34; p < 0.001), and "Food Fussiness" (r = 0.14; p < 0.001)) were observed.…”

“…These measures evaluate similar appetitive traits, including "Food Responsiveness" and "Satiety Responsiveness". They have been adapted for use in different stages of the life course, such as the Baby Eating Behaviour Questionnaire in 0-to 6-month-old milk-fed infants [6,7], the Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire for use in Toddlers (CEBQ-T) aged 1 to 3 years [7,8], and the CEBQ in children aged 3 to 13 years [9,10]. Appetitive traits have also been measured in adults using the Adult Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (AEBQ) [11], previously validated for use in a Mexican sample (Adult Eating Behaviour Questionnaire-Español: AEBQ-Esp) [12], which can be used to assess maternal traits.…”