PAREAT | Pediatric Avoidant and Restrictive Eating: A biopsychosocial investigation

Summary
Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is a newly defined psychological disorder that is estimated to affect ~5% of children. Children with ARFID eat a limited quantity or range of foods due to sensory sensitivity to the food (i.e., taste, smell, texture, temperature, appearance), low interest/appetite, fear of adverse consequences of eating (e.g., choking, vomiting, pain), or a combination of these reasons. ARFID causes children to have significant nutritional deficiencies, growth impairment and/or significant psychosocial problems. However, little is known about what causes ARFID, particularly in early childhood when symptoms typically begin. A recent attempt to inform the pathophysiology of ARFID has been made through the introduction of the Three-Dimensional Neurobiological Model of ARFID, but this model has yet to be evaluated in early childhood. Given the powerful effect of parent feeding behavior on early childhood eating, it is essential to understand how parent feeding behavior interacts with a child’s biological vulnerabilities for ARFID to develop effective behavioral interventions for ARFID in early childhood.

I will extend my research on child anxiety, parenting behavior and psychophysiological assessment, while obtaining essential training in the etiology and biology of feeding and eating disorders and emotional processing of food stimuli to conduct the first evaluation of the interaction of biological risks and parenting behavior on ARFID symptoms in young children. In a sample of 60 children ages 4-7 years (30 with avoidant/restrictive eating and 30 typically developing controls), I will 1) identify biological vulnerabilities for the sensory sensitivity and fear dimensions of avoidant/restrictive eating and 2) test the interaction of parent factors and biological vulnerabilities on the severity of symptoms in the sensory sensitivity and fear of aversive consequences dimensions of avoidant/restrictive eating.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/892437
Start date: 01-04-2020
End date: 29-10-2023
Total budget - Public funding: 203 149,44 Euro - 203 149,00 Euro
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Original description

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is a newly defined psychological disorder that is estimated to affect ~5% of children. Children with ARFID eat a limited quantity or range of foods due to sensory sensitivity to the food (i.e., taste, smell, texture, temperature, appearance), low interest/appetite, fear of adverse consequences of eating (e.g., choking, vomiting, pain), or a combination of these reasons. ARFID causes children to have significant nutritional deficiencies, growth impairment and/or significant psychosocial problems. However, little is known about what causes ARFID, particularly in early childhood when symptoms typically begin. A recent attempt to inform the pathophysiology of ARFID has been made through the introduction of the Three-Dimensional Neurobiological Model of ARFID, but this model has yet to be evaluated in early childhood. Given the powerful effect of parent feeding behavior on early childhood eating, it is essential to understand how parent feeding behavior interacts with a child’s biological vulnerabilities for ARFID to develop effective behavioral interventions for ARFID in early childhood.

I will extend my research on child anxiety, parenting behavior and psychophysiological assessment, while obtaining essential training in the etiology and biology of feeding and eating disorders and emotional processing of food stimuli to conduct the first evaluation of the interaction of biological risks and parenting behavior on ARFID symptoms in young children. In a sample of 60 children ages 4-7 years (30 with avoidant/restrictive eating and 30 typically developing controls), I will 1) identify biological vulnerabilities for the sensory sensitivity and fear dimensions of avoidant/restrictive eating and 2) test the interaction of parent factors and biological vulnerabilities on the severity of symptoms in the sensory sensitivity and fear of aversive consequences dimensions of avoidant/restrictive eating.

Status

CLOSED

Call topic

MSCA-IF-2019

Update Date

28-04-2024
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Horizon 2020
H2020-EU.1. EXCELLENT SCIENCE
H2020-EU.1.3. EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
H2020-EU.1.3.2. Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
H2020-MSCA-IF-2019
MSCA-IF-2019