Poster #102 - A Longitudinal Examination of Sensory Exploratory Behaviors Young Children Use When Trying New Foods

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Health, Growth, Injury

Integrative Statement

Food neophobia, or the tendency to avoid or refuse novel foods, peaks during early childhood and is associated with poor dietary outcomes, such as reduced dietary variety and low fruit and vegetable intake (Dovey et al., 2008). Some researchers have posited that children may engage in sensory exploratory behaviors, such as smelling and licking, as they move towards acceptance of new foods, but little is known about the prevalence or duration of these behaviors across early childhood. The purpose of the present study was to examine the trajectories of smelling, licking, and spitting behaviors displayed in response to new foods from 4 to 6.5 years of age.

The Colorado LEAP project was a 3-year longitudinal cohort study designed to examine and improve food acceptance patterns of young children at high risk for obesity. At baseline (T1), four-year-old children (n = 228) participated in a “Tasting Game” where they were asked to taste 9 foods, 4 of which were novel (beets, couscous, garbanzo beans, and grapefruit). An experimenter recorded the presence or absence of sensory exploratory behaviors (smelling, licking, and spitting) displayed by the children while tasting each food. Assessments were repeated when the children were 4.5 (T2), 5.5 (T3), and 6.5 years of age (T4). Summary scores were created for each child by summing the total number of foods smelled, licked, and spit out at each time point.

A series of growth models (no growth, linear, and latent basis models) were fit to the licking, smelling, and spitting variables across the 4 measurement occasions. Maximum likelihood estimation with a logit link function was used and all models converged to a proper solution. The linear growth models fit better than the no growth models for licking (χ2(3)=65, p<.01), smelling (χ2(3)=33, p<.01), and spitting (χ2(3)= 47, p<.01). The latent basis model did not fit significantly better than the linear growth model for any of the behaviors (p’s > .05), thus the linear growth models were retained. The model parameters indicate that licking (β1=-1.20, p< .05) and spitting (β1=-1.36, p< .01) decreased over time, on average, whereas smelling showed consistent, but non-significant, negative change (β1=-0.38, p= .13). Children varied significantly in their likelihood of smelling (β0=4.83, p< .05) and licking (β0=3.90, p< .05), but not spitting (p = .07), at baseline. There were no individual differences in the rate of change of the likelihood of licking, smelling, and spitting across the study period (p’s > .05).

Our results demonstrate that smelling, licking, and spitting behaviors decline in response to new foods across early childhood. This pattern appears to be a developmental shift, as there were no significant individual differences in the rate of decline in these behaviors over time. The natural disappearance of these behaviors over time may be pleasing to caregivers, who commonly view these behaviors as inappropriate. Future work will attempt to link the decline in these behaviors to the decline in child food neophobia that is thought to occur across the same time period.

Authors

• Kameron J. Moding, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
  Presenting Author

• Laura L. Bellows, Colorado State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kevin Grimm, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Susan L. Johnson, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
  Non-Presenting Author