Degree Name

MA (Master of Arts)

Program

Psychology

Date of Award

8-2013

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

Wallace E. Dixon Jr

Committee Members

William T. Dalton III, Deborah L. Slawson

Abstract

The current study examined the mediating role of possible food preferences on the temperamentweight relationship among 18-month-old toddlers. Parents of 37 typically developing toddlers completed the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (ECBQ). During a lab visit toddlers’ weight and recumbent length were measured and recorded. Toddlers also completed a sequential touching task to examine their ability to categorize a healthy group of foods and an unhealthy group of foods. The only temperament measure found to associate with both child weight status and food categorization was inhibitory control. Toddlers’ food categorization was not found to mediate the relationship between inhibitory control and their weight status. The results of this study suggest that there is a continued need for a nonparent report measure of food preferences.

Document Type

Thesis - unrestricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

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