A Study on the Children's Eating Habits and Food Preference according to Their Parents' Economic Status (I): Seoul & Gyeonggi (Incheon) Area

Chung, Heajung; Eum, Yun Ho; Kim, Jung Yoon

Abstract

This research was carried out a to investigate the food habit and preference of parents'social and economic level with 681 children (145 of Kindergarten, 300 of Children, 236 of Adolescences) in Seoul and Gyeonggi area using questionnaires. The parents' income level divided into 2 groups, less than 4 million won and equal or greater than 4 million won. Most of the middle years were over-weighing but kindergarten and adolescences had standard weights. The majority of parents had Bachelor degrees, most of father were office workers, majority of mothers of kindergarten with parents' income level less than 4 million won were professional women and mothers of the rest of the groups were mostly house wives. The middle years with parents income level less than 4 million son were skipping meals most frequently, but other groups didn't show much differences in their eating habits. All age groups showed that they like meats the most and dislike vegetables the worst. All age groups also showed that they mostly eat out 1-2 times a week and the next was 3-4 times a week. All age groups preferred ice creams, fruits, juices and snacks for their desserts. The middle years with parents' income equal or greater than 4 million won also showed high preference on strawberry and chocolate flavored milk, burgers and pizzas. The food s that preferred to eat when dining out were Chinese foods (Ja-jang-myeon and sweet and sour pork) for kindergarten group, Korean foods (kalbi and bulgogi) for the middle years with parents' income level less than 4 million won, family restaurant food (steak and rib) for the middle years with parents' income level equal or greater than 4 million won and Korean foods (kalbi and bulgogi) for the adolescences. The preferred cooking methods were roast (fish and sea weeds) for the kindergarten, roasted meat for the middle years, Kimchi and bean paste pot stew for the adolescences with parents' income level less than 4 million won and roasted meats for the adolescences with parents' income level equal or greater than 4 million won. The results showed that the adolescences with higher parental income lever preferred meats.