Objective: Our goal was to determine whether behavioral economic constructs--including impulsivity (i.e., steep discounting of delayed food and monetary rewards), the relative reinforcing value of food (RRV[subscript food]), and environmental enrichment (i.e., the presence of alternatives to unhealthy foods in the home and neighborhood…

Developmentally relevant high-risk dietary situations (e.g., parties where tempting foods are available) may influence overweight youth's weight control, as they increase risk for overeating. Better self-efficacy for coping with these situations--which preadolescents may learn from their parents--could foster successful weight control. Overweight…

Shape and weight concerns among overweight pre-adolescents heighten risk for eating disorders and weight gain. Treatment and prevention efforts require consideration of psychosocial factors that co-occur with these concerns. This study involved 200 overweight pre-adolescents, aged 7-12 years (M age = 9.8; SD = 1.4), presenting for family-based…

Research has shown that animals and humans habituate on a variety of behavioral and physiological responses to repeated presentations of food cues, and habituation is related to amount of food consumed and cessation of eating. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of experimental paradigms used to study habituation, integrate a…

The rate of habituation to food is inversely related to energy intake, and overweight children may habituate slower to food and consume more energy. This study compared patterns of sensitization, as defined by an initial increase in operant or motivated responding for food, and habituation, defined by gradual reduction in responding, for macaroni…

Eating represents a choice among many alternative behaviors. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of how food reinforcement and behavioral choice theory are related to eating and to show how this theoretical approach may help organize research on eating from molecular genetics through treatment and prevention of obesity. Special…

Results from 5-year outcome of family-based behavioral treatment of obesity for 6- to 12-year olds in 162 families across 4 treatment outcome studies suggest that treatments using conjoint targeting and reinforcement of child and parent behavior or reciprocal targeting and reinforcement of children and parents are associated with best child…

Provided a five-year follow-up of obese children who participated in a family-based behavioral weight control program targeting and reinforcing children and parents for weight loss. Children in the parent-plus-child group showed significantly greater weight reductions after five years than did children in control groups. (Author/ABB)

Compared the effectiveness of diet with diet-plus-life-style exercise in overweight families (N=53). Results indicated that the addition of exercise to a diet improves the amount of relative weight change at six months and one year in adults. No treatment differences were found for children after one year. (LLL)

Investigated the level and pattern of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in obese children, examining predictors of their activity. Children and their parents wore accelerometers for several days and provided demographic data. Parental activity levels significantly and independently predicted and improved the prediction of children's…

Assessed effect of parent weight and parent control versus child self-control on weight loss in obese preadolescent children over three-year period. Children of nonobese parents had significantly greater decrease in relative weight after one year than children of obese parents. At three years, there was no effect of parent weight. Locus of control…

Overweight preadolescents and parents from (N=76) families were assigned to behavioral treatment groups: parent-child target, child target, or nonspecific target. Percent overweight changes at the end of eight-month treatment and follow-up were equivalent for children in all groups, but parents in the parent-child group lost more weight during…