- a Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
- b Klinik für Schmerztherapie und Palliativmedizin Medizinisches Zentrum StädteRegion Aachen GmbH, Germany
- Received 9 June 2015, Revised 2 October 2015, Accepted 7 October 2015, Available online 15 October 2015
Highlights
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- Children's spontaneous associations of special events with food were assessed.
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- The higher a child's BMI, the fewer associations of special events with food.
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- This may reflect that overweight children's access to special foods is less restricted.
Abstract
This study examined children's spontaneous associations of special events with food. Children in primary education (N = 111,
age between 10 and 13 years) at a school in Germany wrote down their
first five associations with five special or festive events (Christmas,
holidays, weekend, carnival and birthday). After completing the
free-word association test, they were offered a choice between a candy
and a toy. Finally, their body mass index (BMI) was measured. The first
prediction was that overweight and obese children would associate
special events more often with food than normal weight and leaner
children. The second prediction was that choice for a candy would be
predicted by a higher number of food-related associations. The first
hypothesis was not supported: BMI was negatively related to number of
food-related associations (the lower the BMI, the more food-related
associations). The second hypothesis was also not supported: There was
no relation between number of food-related associations and choice for a
candy or toy. A possible explanation for the finding that leaner
children reported more food-related associations is that for them
specific sweets and snack food are more exclusively connected to special
occasions than for overweight children. Speculatively, this may be the
result of differences in food parenting styles between parents of
heavier and leaner children. Parents of leaner children often have a
more restrictive style, i.e., reserving specific foods for specific,
relatively rare occasions whereas parents of overweight children adopt
more liberal food rules.
Keywords
- Spontaneous associations;
- Free-word association test;
- Special events;
- Food;
- Overweight children
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