Abstract

This study aimed to extend studies that have looked at snack food consumption following a negative mood induction, and examine whether listening to a happy song would counteract food consumption in children. A second aim was to examine whether parental feeding practices (use of food as a reward and the use of food to regulate emotions) and child Body Mass Index (BMI) would moderate any differences. Eighty 5-7-year-old children took part in a negative mood induction and were then assigned to either a happy music condition or a silent control condition. The weight (g) consumed of four snack foods was measured (fruit hearts, crisps, chocolate biscuits, and breadsticks). Parents filled in baseline measures of feeding practices. There were no significant differences in food consumption between conditions. There was, however, a significant interaction between the high use of food as a reward and the …