Author : Sara Kathleen Fink
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 90 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (841 download)
Book Synopsis The Association Between Frequency of Family Meals and Diet Quality in Children in North Carolina by : Sara Kathleen Fink
Download or read book The Association Between Frequency of Family Meals and Diet Quality in Children in North Carolina written by Sara Kathleen Fink and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Family meals provide an opportunity for family members to interact and maintain family cohesion. Through family meals parents also have the opportunity to model healthful eating and provide healthy food choices to other family members. Eating patterns are developed as children and adolescents and continue through adulthood. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the relationship between family meal frequency and the diet quality (fruit, vegetable, and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption) of children ages 1-17 in North Carolina. The Social Cognitive Theory was used as a model to guide the research to understand the home environment. Data from the 2010 North Carolina Child Health Assessment and Monitoring Program survey was used. In adjusted analysis, eating more than five home-cooked family meals per week was found to be associated with greater fruit consumption (OR=1.60, 95% CI 1.22-2.11) and greater vegetable consumption (OR=1.74, 95% CI=1.27-2.39) among children ages 1-17. More family meals was also associated with no sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (OR=1.50, 95% 0=1.12-2.09). Adolescents had over twice the odds of consuming fruits if they participated in more family meals (OR=2.10, 95% CI=1.39-3.19). Children ages six through seventeen who had more family meals had greater odds of vegetable consumption (ages 6-11 OR=1.87, 95% CI 1.08-3.24; ages 12-17 OR=1.79, 95% CI 1.12-2.86). Children ages six through eleven had over twice the odds of not consuming sugar-sweetened beverages when they participated in more family meals (OR=2.09, 95% CI 1.25-3.52). Future studies should further explore the complex relationship between family dynamics and diet quality measures. The hypotheses were found to be correct with family meals associated with diet quality.