Despite the rather large number of studies in this area, very
few have examined the relationships between the various forms of
child self-regulation across the eating and non-eating domains. If,
indeed, the interpretations that are offered for the relationship
between child self-regulation and obesity are correct, one would
expect moderate to strong positive intercorrelations between measures
of self-regulation within and across these two domains.
Previous research shows that for the non-eating domain, withindomain
correlations are usually small to moderate, with correlations
between measures of executive functioning generally ranging
between r = 0.20 and r = 0.35 . Executive
functioning and effortful control show similar correlations
with measures of emotion regulation . Within the eating domain, mothers’
responses on the satiety responsiveness and food responsiveness
subscales of the Children’s Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ)
are negatively correlated with one another. Fewer studies have examined
inter-correlations of child eating self-regulation as measured
by observed tasks and parent-reports of this construct. examined the relationship between mothers’ responses
on the CEBQ and two laboratory assessments: caloric
compensation trials and eating in the
absence of hunger in a sample of 4- to 5-yearold
children. The results showed no significant correlation between
eating in the absence of hunger and child eating self-regulation as
measured in the compensation trials. When they examined the
relationship between mothers’ responses on the CEBQ (food
responsiveness and satiety responsiveness) and the laboratory measures
of child eating self-regulation, only one relationship out of
six was significant. Children whose mothers rated them high in
satiety responsivenesswere less likely to eat in the absence of hunger