For their study, the team observed 12 elementary children for 2 days during a 4-H summer camp.
Researchers say that encouraging a child to eat small bite-sized food with a fork, rather than food they have to pick up and bite, may lead to better behavior at the dinner table.
On the first day, they arranged for half the children to sit at a picnic table where they were served with chicken on the bone that they had to bite into with their front teeth.
The other six children sat at another table nearby and were served with boneless chicken cut into bite-sized pieces.
On the second day, they swapped the children over. On both days, they also asked the camp counselors to instruct the children to remain inside a 9-foot radius perimeter around the table.
The researchers filmed both groups eating on both days and then invited trained coders to evaluate the children's behaviors in terms of aggressiveness and compliance and any boisterous or rowdy behavior, such as jumping or standing on the tables.
Children were less compliant when given food to bite
The results showed that children behaved twice as aggressively when given chicken on the bone to eat as when they were given bite-sized pieces. They were also twice as likely to disobey adults.
In addition, when given food they had to bite, the children left the circle without permission more frequently and were more likely to engage in boisterous behavior.
