Measurement of appetite perception and evaluation of appetite in families of 8-12 years old children

This study was carried out by examining the families, children's weight, children's height, weight and body mass index (BMI) in comparison to objective criteria and researching the transformation of perceptions into reality and appetite 202 children between the ages of 8-12 and their parents attending Private Konya Şehir Koleji in Konya province participated in the study. Information forms questioning the family and general characteristics were applied to the parents and anthropometric measurements were taken from the children. The eating behaviors of the children, were determined by the "Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ)", which reflects the appetite of the children. Children were evaluated according to their BMI- percentiles by age using the criteria of the World Health Organization and compared with their eating behaviors and sociodemographic characteristics. 8.9% of children are malnutrition, 9.4% are weak, 52.9% are normal, 14.4% are overweight and 14.4% are obese. In our study, parents were asked to evaluate the body weight of their children. Accordingly, 66.3% of the parents correctly assessed the body weight of their child, while 33.7% misjudged the body weight of their child. It has been found that 25.7% of the parents tend to see their children as weak. A relationship was found between the eating behavior of children with some sociodemographic characteristics such as gender, maternal age, and economic status. In our study, a positive significant relationship was found between children's weight, height, BMI and eating behaviors that are interested in food, while a negative significant relationship was found with "satiety responsiveness" and "slowness in eating" behaviors, which are food avoiding eating behaviors. A statistically significant relationship was found between the BMI- percentile values of children by age and their average CEBQ score. As percentile values increased, the mean scores of eating behavior interested in food also increased. In addition, "food selectivity" was found to be more in the first children It was observed that the mean scores of "food responsiveness" and "enjoyment of food" behaviors among the eating behaviors that are interested in food were higher in boys, but the result was not statistically significant. A statistically significant difference was found in food-avoiding eating behaviors such as "slowness in eating", and it was observed that the mean score was higher in girls. CEBQ is a scale that reflects the appetite of children, so the positive and significant correlation between the eating behaviors of the children and the children's weight and BMI- percentile showed that their appetite status was also good. With CEBQ, children's appetite can be evaluated practically. Keyword: eating behavior, parent perception, school age, appetite