Children’s eating behavior is a complex process which is known to be not only driven by hunger and satiety (i.e., homeostatic eating), but also by hedonic aspects such as the palatability of food and the expectancy that food will elicit pleasurable feelings (i.e., hedonic eating). Eating in the absence of hunger (EAH), an important subtype of hedonic eating, is an eating behavior with a persistent nature: it emerges early in life and increases with age until middle childhood, after which it stabilizes. Moreover, EAH has been found to be a predictor of weight- and eating-related pathology later in life, emphasizing the need to investigate who is most susceptible to experience this type of eating behavior during middle childhood. However, to date, there are many inconsistencies regarding the explanation and development of EAH during childhood, and consequently it remains unclear which prevention and intervention strategies might be helpful. Therefore, the overarching aim of the current project is to increase insight into children’s (10 – 12 years old) EAH. This will be realized (1) by longitudinally investigating the development and trajectories of EAH and its associations with several explanatory factors from a socio-ecological angle, thereby informing theoretical models of EAH (work package 1), and (2) by examining EAH on a daily basis using ecological momentary assessment, thereby fueling insight into optimal prevention and intervention strategies (work package 2).