Association between Temperament and Nutrition Risk in Pre-School Children - Abstract
Objective: To determine whether there is an association between parent reported child temperament and nutrition risk in preschool aged children.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Healthy children aged between 3-5 years were recruited from community-based primary care practices. Temperament was assessed using the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire Very Short Form (CBQ-VSQ) which identifies three domains: Negative Affectivity, Effortful Control, and Extraversion/Surgency. Nutrition risk was assessed using the Nutrition Screening Tool for Every Pre-schooler Questionnaire (NutriSTEPTM). Adjusted logistic regression was used to measure the association between individual temperament domain and nutrition risk.
Result: 3468 children were included (mean age 3.75 years, 48 % female) in the study. The mean (SD) of Negative Affectivity, Effortful Control, and Extraversion/Surgency, were 3.79 (0.85), 5.46 (0.72) and 4.56 (0.79) respectively. About 14% (n=472) of the children had high nutrition risk. Children who scored high in Negative Affectivity and high in Effortful Control had an odds ratio of 1.47 (95% CI: 1.30, 1.66, p = <0.001) and 0.73 (95% CI: 0.64, 0.84, p = <0.001) respectively for high nutrition risk.
Conclusion: This study found children whose temperament is characterized by Negative Affectivity (discomfort, fear, anger/frustration, sadness and poor soothability) are more likely to be associated with high nutrition risk. These concepts can alert physicians to behavior patterns in children that may predispose
them to poor nutrition and guide clinical decision making through laboratory testing for nutrition status, counseling and close monitoring.