Executive function
Do kids with weaker self-control show riskier eating habits?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
In ordinary schoolchildren, the 'cool' thinking-control skills hung together as one ability, the emotional 'hot' tasks did not, and weaker cool control went with some riskier eating styles only in girls.
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cross-sectional — One-time battery of five executive-function tasks plus parent and child eating questionnaires, analysed with confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation models
- N
- N=1657 · 1657 children (and 1339 parents who filled in eating questionnaires); some parent ratings missing and estimated by full information maximum likelihood
- Population
- Children aged 6-11 from grades 1-3 of 33 elementary schools in Brandenburg, Germany
- Outcome
- Factor structure of hot vs. cool EF tasks; associations of EF with six food-approach eating styles (e.g., food responsiveness, emotional overeating, restrained eating)
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Key findings
Both a one-factor and a two-factor model fit the data, but the one-factor model was slightly more economical, and the two hot tasks loaded very weakly on any factor and did not covary with each other, so 'hot EF' did not behave like one coherent ability. The three cool tasks formed a solid shared factor, and the structure looked the same in younger and older halves of the sample. In girls, weaker cool EF went with more food responsiveness, more desire to drink and more restrained eating, while better delay of gratification was slightly linked to more emotional overeating; in boys there were no significant links. Only two of the girl-boy differences were statistically significant, and all associations were small to moderate.
Methodology
The researchers tested 1657 German first- to third-graders individually on five executive-function tasks: three 'cool' ones (switching between rules, repeating digits backwards, and a fruit Stroop task) and two 'hot' ones (a child gambling task and a choice between a small treat now or a bigger one a week later). Parents rated their child's eating habits on questionnaire scales, children rated their own restrained eating, and body weight and height were measured. Factor models tested whether the tasks split into hot and cool abilities, and structural equation models linked EF to eating styles separately for girls and boys, controlling for age and fluid intelligence.
Limitations
The data are cross-sectional, so the study cannot say whether weak EF leads to risky eating or whether diet affects cognition; the authors call for longitudinal work. Hot EF was measured with only two quite different tasks, and the delay task hit a ceiling, so the failure to find a hot factor may reflect the task choice rather than the absence of the ability. Eating styles came mostly from parent ratings and short questionnaire scales, while EF came from child tasks, which the authors note affects how strong the associations can look. The gender pattern was mostly not formally significant, so claims that EF matters only for girls are tentative.
How this study connects
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