Author(s)

Ada H. Zohar^1,2*, Lilac Lev-Ari^1,2, Rachel Bachner-Melman¹

¹Graduate Program in Clinical Psychology, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer, Israel.
²The Lior Tsfaty Center for Suicide and Mental Pain Studies, Emek Hefer, Israel.

Background: Picky eating (PE) is common in childhood but if it persists may pose a serious risk factor for restricting eating disorders. Methods: A community sample of 1055 mothers of children (mean age 3.4 + 1) was reported online on gestational history, early feeding [breastfeeding vs. formula], behavioral problems [CBCL], temperament [EAS], fears [FIYC], executive function [P-BRIEF], and self-reported on maternal perfectionism, anxiety, and on maternal attachment patterns. Results: 17.5% of the children were PE with an over-representation of first-borns (Chi-square = 28.1, p < 0.001). In temperament, PEs were shyer, more emotional and fearful than non-PEs, and higher on the CBCL-PDD, Affective, Anxiety, ADHD, and Oppositional, and lower in executive function. PEs’ mothers were more perfectionistic and anxious and scored higher on avoidant and anxious attachment. Logistic regression identified 26.7% of the PEs with the CBCL Affective providing most of the explained variance. Conclusions: At the age of three, PE is associated with a wide range of behavioral problems and with poorly developed executive function. Maternal anxiety and perfectionism may contribute to PE at this developmental stage. Reassuring anxious and perfectionistic mothers may contribute to dealing effectively with PE.

Picky Eating, Children, Behavior Problems, Feeding, Executive Function, Maternal Perfectionism, Maternal Anxious Attachment, Maternal Trait Anxiety

Zohar, A. , Lev-Ari, L. and Bachner-Melman, R. (2019) Child and Maternal Correlates of Picky Eating in Young Children. Psychology, 10, 1249-1261. doi: 10.4236/psych.2019.109080.