Background

Temperament is a variable that has recently been shown to be of interest as a risk factor for childhood obesity. Some studies indicate that difficult temperament is associated with weight gain in preschoolers.

Objectives

The aim of the present study was to analyze the available literature on the association between the child's temperament and the BMI of the preschool child.

Methods

We did a review of the literature about studies evaluating the association amoung temperament and body mass index in the preschool child. The search was carried since May to June of 2016 in databases such as Pubmed, EBSCO Host, Ovid, Springer Link and academic google. We included studies that had not more than 10 years of published and that complied criteria for inclusion, in addition the results of the studies had quality in the methodology and results, as reference for the evaluation of the studies, we used The Critical Apprasisal Skills Program English.

Results

We found 784 articles, of which only nine were included for this review, six of the studies evaluated temperament based on attentional reactivity and / or traits, three evaluated temperament based on self-regulation of the child and only one Evaluated both emotional reactivity and self-regulation. It seems that negative reactivity and low self-regulation are factors associated with childhood obesity in the preschool age.

Conclusions:

The literature suggests that more research is needed to determine the temperament behavior around obesity in children.

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