Eating and growth are fundamental prerequisites for a child's development and well-being, which is why we have included measures for this in the CCC2000 age-period surveys.

The child's weight at birth and growth in the first year of life reflect growth conditions for the body's organs and not least for brain development. Therefore, growth in the first year of life has a special focus in CCC2000, as by studying early growth, we gain knowledge about basic conditions for, among other things, mental development. The research results show that up to 30% of infants experience problems with eating during the first year of life. For many, these problems are temporary, but for some, they lead to poor wellbeing. Poor weight gain and eating problems are closely linked in the first year of life, regardless of any other problems the child may have such as premature birth, low birth weight or physical illness. In some children, eating problems are the primary cause of well-being problems, especially when poor weight gain starts around 6 months of age.

At 5-7 years of age, parents were asked about their child's eating behavior, and the results show that difficulties with eating, to a greater or lesser degree, are common at this age. However, the results also show that 'picky eating' behavior can be a sign of mental difficulties, and this particular eating behavior is also associated with well-being and eating problems in the first year of life.

This age period, especially for girls, is characterized by the beginning of developmental changes in the body and psyche. At this time, the children themselves were asked about various aspects of their eating, body image and puberty, and some of them were also weighed and measured. The research results show that many children at this age are dissatisfied with their bodies and that this applies to both boys and girls. However, the results also showed that different types of problematic eating behaviors (overeating, dieting, and impulse eating) were associated with both body dissatisfaction and symptoms of psychological difficulties. Most of the children with dieting behaviors were overweight, but there was also a large group of normal weight children who were dissatisfied with their bodies and reported dieting behaviors.

In the current follow-up, we will again focus on body image, weight, and eating behavior, and will also examine the boys' relationship to eating and body. We also focus on the development from child to adolescent in terms of body image and eating behavior, and on early signs of more problematic and serious eating behavior and weight-regulating behavior - and how this is related to other psychological difficulties in the child and adolescent's life.

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Main research leader: Else Marie Olsen and Nadia Micali​