Eating Habits of Early Years of Life and Attachment Styles Among Obese Girls

the aim of current study was to compare eating habits of early years of life and attachment styles of obese girls with normal weight girls.One hundred and fifty students with normal weight and 150 obese students were selected from Rafsanjan, Iran using purposive sampling method. The participants’ age range was between 9 and 11 years. The participants completed the Demographic Questionnaire, the Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire (Musher-Eizenman, 2007), and the Inventory of Parent Attachment (Gullone & Robinson, 2005). The results of independent-samples t test indicated significant differences between the two groups in scores of the Feeding Practices subscales (such as child control, emotion regulation with food, encourage balance/ variety, food as a reward, involvement, pressure to eat, restriction for health, restriction for weight). No differences were found between the groups in the scores of attachment styles. The two groups had different birth weight. The obese girls’ parents had higher BMI than normal girls’ parents. The findings can be used in understanding childhood obesity, obesity prevention, and designing therapeutic interventions. The findings suggested that certain eating habit can be modified through culturally appropriate training.