Eating habits in lower secondary school pupils from urban and rural areas

Abstract

Proper diet is one of the elementary factors affecting human development and good health preservation. Well‑balanced nutrition is one of the most important elements conditioning appropriate
psychophysical development, emotional condition as well as physical and mental state. Acquiring proper habits and behaviours in childhood and adolescence becomes a standard for the years of independent life to come. Increasing the level of knowledge on a well‑ balanced diet is the first step to improve the dietary
behaviours in children, youth and adults. The aim of the representative research was to diagnose the eating habits of lower secondary school youth from urban and rural areas and determining the behaviours with reference to a number of descriptive variables. The paper contains the results of examining 252 pupils aged 13, including 139 girls and 113 boys. The examinations were conducted in lower secondary schools in the Świętokrzyskie Province. The eating habits were determined with the validated tool – the HBSC questionnaire (Health Behaviour in School‑ aged Children – WHO). Selected social and economic
factors were evaluated, i.e. the number of siblings, parents’ education, their professions and housing standards. Mean values, standard deviation, percentage calculations applying the computer programme Statistica were used for statistical computations. The significance of differences between the compared features was evaluated with a test for two independent samples. The value below 0,05 was assumed as the significance level for all calculations. As it results from the research material, before leaving for school breakfast is consumed by 61.8% of the examined pupils, and 9.2% did not eat breakfast at all. 15.3% of the examined (i.e. 17.3% of girls and 13.3% of boys) ate fruit at least one time a day, whereas vegetables were eaten by 10.7% of the lower secondary school pupils (i.e. 10,8% of girls and 10.6% of
boys). Milk and dairy products were consumed at least once a day by 18.9% of the pupils (16.5% of girls and 21.2% of boys). Brown bread was never eaten by 2.9% of girls and 5.3% of boys. 16,1% of the examined pupils consumed sweets at least once a day, girls (18%) more often than boys (14.2%). It was indicated that the consumption of confectionery- sweets and chocolate by girls and boys depended on mother’s profession. 7,6% of teenagers drank Coca‑Cola and other sweet soft drinks were drunk every day and more often than one time a day by 7.6% of teenagers, more often by girls (15.1%) than boys (12.4%), while never only by 6.5% of girls. A significant statistical difference was shown between boys
and girls. In consumption of fruit and vegetables significant statistical differences were shown between the examined and mother’s education and profession. A significant statistical difference between the examined and mother’s education was shown with reference to the consumption of milk, dairy products
and brown bread. There is a predominance of anti‑health over pro‑health behaviours. The frequency of consuming food products among the examined group of pupils from the Świętokrzyskie Province indicates the need for providing them with education on nutrition. It was observed that there exist vital dependencies between eating habits of the examined pupils and their parents’ education.