Increasing Food Literacy in Preschoolers to Reduce Obesity Risk

Children's Food Acceptance

Teachers reports of each child's willingness to try and liking of weekly target foods; lab-created measure. Scores for trying (yes/no) and liking (yes/no) are summed to create total scores for each. Scores range from 0 to 26 for trying and liking. Higher scores indicate a higher frequency of trying weekly foods and higher frequency of liking seeking foods.

Children's willingness to try novel foods

Observed measure of children's willingness to try 4 novel foods (The Tasting Game; lab-created measure). The child scores 1 point for each bite of food that is tasted or eaten. Scores for each range from 0 (none tasted/eaten) to 3 (all pieces tasted/eaten). Total scores range from 0 to 12, and are created by summing the points obtained for each food item. Higher scores indicate a greater willingness to try foods.

Children's Food Literacy

Observed measure of children's ability to name/identify 6 foods using pictures (Food Literacy Scale; lab-created measure). Children receive a score of 0 (incorrect/don't know), 1 (correctly identified on the second pass), or 2 (correctly named on the first pass) points. Total scores range from 0 to 12, and are created by summing the points obtained for each food item. Higher scores indicate higher food literacy or ability to identify foods.

Children's Food Knowledge

Observed measure of children's ability to differentiate between nutrient- and energy-dense foods using the Snack Selection Protocol (Sigma-Grant et al., 2014). Children receive 1 point for each nutrient-dense food item chosen. Scores range from 0-18, with higher scores indicating nutrient-dense foods being chosen more often energy-dense foods.

Child Weight Status/Adiposity

Child age- and sex-specific Body Mass Indices (BMI) from measured height and weight. Conditional weight gain (rate of change in children's BMIz), will be calculated as the standardized residual of the linear regression of post-intervention BMIz predicted by baseline BMIz, adjusted for child age and sex.

Child food requests (parent report)

Children's requests for foods used in the study, as well as general requests for fruits and vegetables (Fruit and Vegetable Survey; lab-created measure).

Children's Appetitive Traits and Behaviors (parent and teacher report)

Measure of food approach and avoidance behaviors (e.g., satiety responsiveness and food enjoyment) measured using the Children's Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (Wardle et al., 2001). Response options range from 1 to 5 and subscale scores are calculated by averaging the items within each subscale. Higher scores for any subscale indicate the respondent's perception of a greater degree of the particular eating style in the child.

Children's Food Exposure (parent and teacher report)

Measure of children's previous experience and familiarity with target foods using the Children's Food Exposure Questionnaire (lab-created). Scores are calculated by averaging the items within each subscale. Subscale 1 scores range from 0-8 points, subscales 2-6 scores range from 0-3. Higher scores for subscales indicate (1) higher availability of fruits and vegetables; (2) more encouragement to eat fruits and vegetables; (3) more modeling of fruit and vegetable consumption by mothers; (4) more asking for fruits and vegetables by children; (4) children have more barriers to eat fruits and vegetables; (6) and caregivers have more barriers to eat fruits and vegetables respectively.

Children's Mealtime Behaviors

A lab-created, parent-report measure of children's media use while eating. Response options on this 3-item measure range from 1 to 4. Scores are calculated by averaging the items, with higher scores indicate a higher frequency of the child eating while watching television.