The Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ) and the Adult Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (AEBQ) measure ‘food approach’ [Food responsiveness (FR); Emotional overeating (EOE); Enjoyment of food (EF); Desire to Drink] and ‘food avoidant’ [Satiety responsiveness (SR); Emotional undereating (EUE); Food fussiness (FF); Slowness in eating (SE)] appetitive traits (ATs) in children and adults, respectively. ‘Food approach’ traits predispose to overweight while ‘food avoidance’ traits provide protection, but little is known about the relationships between parents’ and their offspring’s ATs. The aim was to examine the associations between maternal and child appetitive traits, using the AEBQ-Esp and CEBQ-Mex adapted for use in Mexican populations. Sociodemographic data, weights and heights of mothers and their children (aged 3–13 years), who were recruited from a teaching hospital in Guadalajara, Mexico, were measured. Mothers completed both the AEBQ-Esp and the CEBQ-Mex. The CEBQ-Mex was developed, and its reliability was tested using Cronbach’s alpha and Omega, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to assess its validity. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were used to assess associations between mothers’ and children’s Ats. The sample included 842 mother-child dyads (mother’s mean age = 34.8±SD6.9 years, BMI 29.7±6.1 kg/m2; children’s mean age = 8.5 ±SD2.5 years, BMIz 1.5±1.6). Internal reliability was moderate to high [Cronbach alpha = .68-.86; Omega = .71-.87] for the CEBQ-Mex and validity was confirmed for an 8-factor model through CFA [RMSEA = 0.065; CFI = 0.840, NFI = 0.805; IFI = 0.842; and χ2(df = 532) = 2939.51, p < 0.001]. All but one of the children’s appetitive traits showed small to moderate, significant correlations with their mother’s counterpart [FR (r = .22; p<001); EOE (r = .30; p < .001); EF (r = .15; < .001); SR (r = .16; p < .001); EUE (r = .34; p < .001) and FF (r = .14; p < .001). Only SE was not significantly associated with maternal SE (r = .01; p>.05). ATs tend to run in families, signalling the intergenerational transmission of eating behaviours. These may be useful targets for family-wide interventions to support the development and maintenance of healthy eating behaviours in childhood.

The objective of this study was to validate and measure the internal reliability of the Baby and Child Eating Behavior Questionnaires for Toddlers (BEBQ-Mex and CEBQ-T-Mex), that evaluate appetitive trait (ATs). Mothers recruited from a public hospital in Guadalajara, Mexico, completed the BEBQ-Mex or CEBQ-T-Mex along with information on sociodemographic characteristics. Internal reliability of the BEBQ-Mex was sufficient for Food Responsiveness (FR) (Cronbach α = 0.82), while Enjoyment of Food (EF) and Satiety Responsiveness (SR) showed poor reliability (α = 0.56) and Slowness in Eating (SE) had unacceptable reliability (a = 0.36). All reliability values for the CEBQ-T-Mex were acceptable (>0.70), except for SE (α = 0.64). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed an adequate model fit for the BEBQ-Mex, except the SE subscale. CFA for the CEBQ-T-Mex confirmed the six-factor structure. Mothers of a low sociodemographic background were unable to recognize their infants’ ATs; the BEBQ-Mex partly met the criteria for validity and reliability. Mothers from similar sociodemographic characteristics were more able to recognize the ATs of their toddlers than their infants; the CEBQ-T-Mex was found to be a valid and reliable tool. Findings support the need to help mothers’ ability to recognize their infants’ ATs, which have been previously associated with weight and growth.

Objectives To measure appetitive traits (AT) in mother-child dyads with obesity and identify the association between the ATs of the mothers and Body Mass Index (BMI) and the ATs of the child and BMI z-scores (BMIz). Methods In a cross-sectional study children with obesity accompanied by their biological mothers participated at the Hospital. The weight and height of the dyads were measured and mother's completed sociodemographic data and the Spanish versions of the Adult Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (AEBQ-Esp), and the Children Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ-Mex). These questionnaires measure stable responses to food known as ATs using 8 subscales (traits). Four food approach traits: Food Responsiveness (FR), Emotional Over-eating (EOE), Enjoyment of Food (EF), and Desire to Drink (DD) (DD in children only); and 4 food avoidance traits: Satiety Responsiveness (SR), Emotional Under-eating (EUE), Food Fussiness (FF) and Slowness in eating (SE). Pearson´s correlations to analyze the associations between the AEBQ-Esp ATs and BMI of the mothers and the CEBQ-Mex ATs and BMIz of the children. Results Data from 308 dyads were collected. The age of the mothers was 36.1 ± 6.9 years, 39% had secondary school level education, 72% were housewives; BMI was 31.8 ± 6.3 kg/m2 and 59% were diagnosed with obesity. The age of the schoolchildren was 9.3 ± 1.8 years, 59.7% boys, and the BMIz were 2.6 ± 1.0 SD. There was a significant positive correlation between EOE and BMI (r = 0.12, P &lt; 0.05). In children, positive significant correlations were found between BMIz and FR (r = 0.23, P &lt; 0.01), EOE (r = 0.29, P &lt; 0.01), EF (r = 0.20, P &lt; 0.01) and DD (r = 0.16, P &lt; 0.05), and negative with SE (r = −0.17, P &lt; 0.01). Conclusions Positive association were observed between food approach ATs and BMIs of the mothers and BMIz of the children; negative associations were found with food avoidance traits and BMIs of the mothers and BMIz of the children, as expected. Funding Sources Universidad de Guadalajara and Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología de México.

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