Laura Vandeweghe

Food Approach and Food Avoidance in Young Children: Relation with Reward Sensitivity and Punishment Sensitivity.

It has recently been suggested that individual differences in Reward Sensitivity and Punishment Sensitivity may determine how children respond to food. These temperamental traits reflect activity in two basic brain systems that respond to rewarding and punishing stimuli, respectively, with approach and avoidance. Via parent-report questionnaires, we investigate the associations of the general motivational temperamental traits Reward Sensitivity and Punishment Sensitivity with Food Approach and Food Avoidance in 98 preschool children. Consistent with the conceptualization of Reward Sensitivity in terms of approach behavior and Punishment Sensitivity in terms of avoidance behavior, Reward Sensitivity was positively related to Food Approach, while Punishment Sensitivity was positively related to Food Avoidance. Future research should integrate these perspectives (i.e., general temperamental traits Reward Sensitivity and Punishment Sensitivity, and Food Approach and Avoidance) to get a better understanding of eating behavior and related body weight.

Psychometric Properties of the BIS/BAS Scales and the SPSRQ in Flemish Adolescents

Objective: Gray’s Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) is a frequently used model of personality that is relevant to the period of adolescence. However, the psychometric properties of the most frequently used questionnaires to measure the RST-constructs, namely the Behavioural Inhibition System and Behavioural Activation System Scales (BIS/BAS Scales) and the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire (SPSRQ), are rarely examined in samples of adolescents. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to examine the two-factor structure, reliability and convergent validity of the BIS/BAS Scales and SPSRQ in a Flemish adolescent community sample. Method: A sample of 579 adolescents (39.5% boys; 14–19 years) was recruited. The proposed two-factor structure was assessed using Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling. Reliability was evaluated using internal consistency and construct validity was examined with the correlations between the two questionnaires and with the Temperament and Character Inventory–short form (TCI-SF). Results: After the removal of problematic items, and the addition of correlated errors, all indices indicated a good fit for the two-factor structure of the modified BIS/BAS Scales. For the modified SPSRQ, three fit indices indicated a good model fit, while a fourth fit index was slightly below the cut-off score of an adequate model fit. Internal consistency of both questionnaires was sufficient. In general, the associations with scales of the TCI-SF were as expected, with positive correlations between BIS-related scales, and between BAS-related scales of all three instruments. Discussion: In Flemish adolescents, the use of a two-factor model to analyze data gathered with the modified BIS/BAS Scales or modified SPSRQ seems appropriate.

Reward sensitivity and body weight: the intervening role of food responsive behavior and external eating

BACKGROUND During the last three decades, the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity has increased worldwide. It is well established that different child-related factors such as food approach behaviors (i.e. eating behaviors that imply movements towards food) contribute to the development of overweight. However, research is lacking on the underlying mechanisms leading to food approach behaviors, which in turn lead to overweight. SUBJECT/METHODS Via parent-report questionnaires, we investigated the relation between the personality trait reward sensitivity and body weight in a convenience sample of 211 children aged 2.5-9 years. We further investigated the intervening role of food approach behaviors in the association between reward sensitivity and body weight. RESULTS Unexpectedly, there was no direct association between reward sensitivity and body weight. Despite the absence of a direct effect, a significant indirect association was found between reward sensitivity and body weight through the intervening food approach variables (i.e. food responsive behavior and external eating). CONCLUSIONS These results highlight the importance of the focus on eating behaviors as well as trait characteristics in prevention programs for overweight.

How do I feel right now? Emotional awareness, emotion regulation, and depressive symptoms in youth

Decreased emotional awareness contributes to the risk of internalizing disorders, such as depression. Although emotional awareness may be especially important during adolescence, a developmental period in which emotional arousal is high and the risk of depression rises dramatically, little research has examined the mechanisms linking emotional awareness to depression. Starting from affect regulation models, the current study proposes emotion regulation (ER) as a key underlying mechanism in the emotional awareness—depression relationship. The current study investigated whether maladaptive and adaptive ER strategies mediate the relationship between emotional awareness and depressive symptoms among youth using a cross-sectional design. Participants were 220 youth (65% girls;

How can classical conditioning learning procedures support the taste development in toddlers (REWARD)

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Strategies to improve the Willingness to Taste: The moderating role of children's Reward Sensitivity

Mage = 11.87, SD = 1.94) who filled out a set of questionnaires assessing emotional awareness, ER strategies, and depressive symptoms. Results revealed no direct relationship between emotional awareness and depressive symptoms. However, emotional awareness yielded a significant mediation effect through total adaptive ER strategies on higher depressive symptoms. No evidence was found for the mediating role of maladaptive ER strategies in this relationship. The current study provides further support for affect regulation models positing that emotional awareness may be a basic skill that is required for learning adaptive ER skills, and thus call for greater attention to adaptive ER strategies.

Measuring punishment and reward sensitivity in children and adolescents with a parent-report version of the Bis/Bas-scales

The present study examined the factor structure and measurement invariance of the Behavioral Inhibition System/Behavioral Approach System (BIS/BAS) scales parent-report in children and adolescents (N = 1,444, 58% girls) across age (Group 1, 2-5 years; Group 2, 6-9 years; Group 3, 10-13 years; Group 4, 14-18 years old) and gender. The results consistently underscored a four-factor structure, resembling the original factor structure, with one BIS-factor and three BAS-factors. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis showed full measurement invariance across gender as well as across Group 1 and 2, and Group 2 and 3. Strong measurement invariance was found across Group 3 and 4, Group 1 and 3, and Group 2 and 4. Configural and metric invariance was found across Group 1 and 4. Hence, mean-level BIS/BAS scores can be compared across gender and age although comparison between preschool children (Group 1) and late secondary school children (Group 4) should be done with caution.

Associations between temperament, emotion regulation, and depression in youth: the role of positive temperament

Purpose The strongest barrier for vegetable consumption in children is their preference for these foods. Surveys show that vegetables are children’s least liked food category. Also, food neophobia is common during childhood, affecting 8% to 50% of children. The development of food preferences can be seen as a learning process, as such it is assumable that classical conditioning via associative learning can enhance or impede this process. We want to study the applicability of this theoretical framework in the acquisition of food preferences. Moreover, we will study differential effects of associative learning taking into account individual differences in children’s reward sensitivity (RS). In this poster, we describe the design of a study that aims to examine how positive stimuli influence children’s willingness to taste and the liking of an unliked food item and how this is interrelated with RS. Methods and design This study is designed as a prospective observational study of 45 children in day care (aged 24-30 months) and their parents and caregivers. The children will be randomly allocated to three conditions (a neutral condition, a positive condition or a controlgroup) and will be exposed to an unliked food item from the category of (cooked) vegetables. The neutral condition consists of ‘mere exposure’. The positive condition is operationalized based on focusgroups with parents and caregivers determining cues and techniques facilitating children’s eating development. Children’s liking and usual intake of the vegetable will be assessed before (pre test). The manipulation includes a three week exposure(+stimuli) intervention consisting of 9 tasting trials (3/week). During each trial, children’s willingness to taste will be observed. Their liking will be measured using a 3‐point visual ‘faces’ scale: ‘yummy’ (smiling), ‘just okay’ (neutral face) and ‘yucky’ (frowning) on trial 3, 6 and 9. After the intervention phase, the child’s usual vegetable liking and intake will be assessed, 5 weeks from baseline (post test) and 3 months from baseline (follow‐up 1). This replicates the procedure described by Anzman‐Frasca et al. (2011). The child’s RS will be assessed by the BIS/BAS Questionnaire (Carver & White, 1994). Both parents and caregivers will be asked to fill out this questionnaire. Discussion This study can provide knowledge of how (1) RS may predict change in willingness to taste and liking behavior of vegetables; and (2) the tasting and liking process can develop faster when the child is exposed to positive stimuli via the process of associative learning (compared to mere exposure and the control group). This could lead to more successful interventions tailored to individual characteristics of children.