Eating behaviors, notably eating behaviors conceptualized as appetitive traits, have been suggested as important determinants of individual differences in body weight and thus overweight and obesity. Such appetitive traits include emotional overeating, food responsiveness, enjoyment of food, satiety responsiveness and slowness in eating. Yet little is known about the factors that influence the development of these appetitive traits. Therefore, the current study prospectively investigated a range of predictors of appetitive traits related to both individual child characteristics and parent factors in a large population-based sample of children followed from age 6 to 8 years (N = 689). When adjusting for the initial levels of the specific appetitive trait in question at age 6 and the other predictors, the results showed that instrumental feeding and low levels of effortful control predicted emotional overeating at age 8, whereas instrumental feeding and parental restrained eating predicted food responsiveness at age 8. Enjoyment of food, satiety responsiveness and slowness in eating were not affected by any of the predictors investigated in this study. In conclusion, these findings support low effortful control and instrumental feeding as predictors of emotional overeating, and instrumental feeding and parental restrained eating as predictors of food responsiveness. These findings are relevant in providing a better understanding of the development of children’s eating behaviors, in addition to informing prevention and treatment strategies for childhood obesity.

Notre étude s’est intéressée chez l’enfant au modèle tempéramental de Rothbart : ce modèle suggère que la mise en balance des caractéristiques individuelles de réactivité et d’autorégulation explique le développement de l’enfant. Nous avons constaté l’intérêt de cette structure théorique pour enrichir la modélisation empirique des traits d’appétit de l’enfant, en lien avec le développement de son adiposité. Ainsi avons-nous défini les objectifs suivants: (a) valider un modèle de mesure des traits d’appétit de l’enfant inspiré des composantes tempéramentales du modèle de Rothbart; (b) valider une structure de relations entre autorégulation générale, traits d’appétit et adiposité; (c) valider la structure théorique du modèle de Rothbart appliquée au comportement alimentaire. Nous avons mesuré les traits d’appétit par questionnaire chez des enfants de 10 à 14 ans, puis via des tâches comportementales chez des enfants de 8 à 12 ans. Nous avons aussi pesé et mesuré les enfants. La méthode par questionnaire a permis de valider la modélisation tempéramentale des traits d’appétit via la réactivité de l’appétit et l’autorégulation de la prise alimentaire. Cette méthode a aussi montré que le lien entre autorégulation générale et adiposité de l’enfant pouvait s’expliquer par l’intermédiaire des traits d’appétit. Enfin, les deux méthodes ont confirmé certaines prédictions du modèle théorique de Rothbart : nous avons observé un impact positif d’une composante de réactivité de l’appétit sur l’adiposité et un effet négatif de l’autorégulation de la prise alimentaire sur la réactivité de l’appétit. Grâce à un modèle novateur de tempérament alimentaire mis en lien avec l’adiposité de l’enfant, notre étude peut impacter la prévention et le traitement du surpoids. / Our study focused on Rothbart’s temperament model in children: this model suggests that the balance between individual characteristics of reactivity and self-regulation underlies the child’s development. We noticed that empirical models of appetitive traits linked with adiposity development in children could potentially benefit from the theoretical structure of this model. We thus defined the following objectives: (a) validating a measurement model for children’s appetitive traits through temperamental components inspired by Rothbart’s model; (b) validating a structure of relationships between general self-regulation, appetitive traits and adiposity; (c) validating the theoretical structure of Rothbart’s model in the specific domain of food behaviour. We measured appetitive traits firstly through a questionnaire in 10 to 14 year-old children and secondly through behavioural tasks in 8 to 12 year-old children. Children’s height and weight were also measured. The questionnaire method allowed to validate a temperamental model of appetitive traits, measured through appetite reactivity and self-regulation in eating. We also showed with this method that the link between general self-regulation and adiposity in children could be explained through appetitive traits. Finally, both methods confirmed some of the predictions of Rothbart’s theoretical model: we observed a positive impact of one component of appetite reactivity over adiposity and a negative effect of self-regulation in eating on appetite reactivity. Thanks to an innovative eating temperament model linked with children’s adiposity, our study can impact overweight prevention and treatment.