Kelly, NicholeGuidinger, Claire2024-01-092024-01-092024-01-09https://hdl.handle.net/1794/29100Extant data suggest that rural children are more likely to consume a surplus of calories and energy-dense foods (e.g., candy, soft drinks, and vending machine snacks) compared to their urban peers. Eating behaviors established in childhood often persist throughout the lifespan, and longitudinal data implicate a host of medical concerns associated with a childhood diet high in calories, fat, and sugar. Executive function, specifically inhibitory control, or the ability to withhold a preplanned response, may be especially relevant to eating self-regulation in children living in rural communities. Children who already find food to be particularly rewarding may experience exceptional difficulties inhibiting their eating behaviors. Parental restrictive feeding may further complicate the relationship between inhibitory control and eating behaviors because it prevents a child from developing eating self-regulation. The current dissertation investigated the link between inhibitory control and energy intake in rural Oregon children. Children’s perceived food reward and parental restrictive feeding practices were examined as potential moderators. It was hypothesized that lower inhibitory control would be linked to greater energy intake and that children’s perceived food reward and restrictive parental feeding would exacerbate this association. Rural Oregon children (N = 92, 8-10 years, mean age = 9.05, 50% female, 74.5% white/Caucasian) participated in the current study. Children completed neuropsychological assessments of general and food-specific inhibitory control, and total caloric intake was measured via a laboratory test meal. Validated self-reported measures were used to assess children’s perceived food reward and restrictive parental feeding. In this study, neither general (ps = 0.52-0.53) nor food-specific inhibitory control (p = 0.66) was significantly associated with total caloric intake. Neither children’s perceived food reward (ps = 0.53-0.93) nor restrictive parental feeding (ps = 0.39-0.64) functioned as moderators in any models. Our findings suggest that, in 8-10-year-olds, inhibitory control may not be linked to greater caloric intake. Non-significant findings may also be an artifact of limited variability in the constructs of interest among children within the narrow age range of this smaller sample. Future studies should seek to examine these associations in more heterogeneous samples of rural and urban youth.en-USAll Rights Reserved.Energy intakeInhibitory controlRestrictive parental feedingReward-based eatingElectronic Thesis or Dissertation