Arguments at Mealtime and Child Energy Intake

Objective: To examine how arguments at mealtimes relate to children's daily energy intake. Design: A cross-sectional study using data obtained through the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development 1998-2010 (QLSCD), a representative sample of children born in 1998, in the province of Quebec, Canada. Setting: Face-to-face interviews, questionnaires, and 24-hour dietary recall interviews addressed to children's parents. Participants: One thousand five hundred forty-nine 4-year-old children who participated in a nutrition substudy. Main Outcome Measure: Children's energy intakes were measured through a 24-hour dietary recall interview administered to parents by trained nutritionists, in the children's homes. Analysis: The main associations were examined through chi-square tests of independence and through multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results: The adjusted odds for consuming a high daily energy intake was 2.5 (95% confidence interval: 1.3-4.9) in children who were never exposed to arguments (between parents and children) at mealtimes, in comparison to children who were often or always exposed to arguments. Conclusions and Implications: Mealtimes that are free of arguments, specifically between parents and children, appear to associate with high daily energy intakes in children, even after controlling for other factors, including a child's level of physical activity, eating in front of the television, mother's educational level, and number of overweight parents, among others. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)