Correlates of children's eating attitude test scores among primary school children

A total of 107 Malay primary school girls (8-9 yr. old) completed a set of measurements on eating behavior (ChEAT, food neophobia scales, and dieting experience), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, body shape satisfaction, dietary intake, weight, and height. About 38% of the girls scored 20 and more on the CHEAT, and 46% of them reported dieting by reducing sugar and sweets (73%), skipping meals (67%), reducing fat foods (60%) and snacks (53%) as the most frequent methods practiced. In general, those girls with higher ChEAT scores tended to have lower self esteem (r = .39), indicating they were more unwilling to try new foods (food neophobic) (r = .29), chose a smaller figure for desired body size (r = .25), and were more dissatisfied with their body size (r = .31).