Korean J Community Nutr.  2012 Feb;17(1):109-118. 10.5720/kjcn.2012.17.1.109.

Change of Children's Meal Structure in Terms of Temporal and Spatial Dimensions : Analysis of the Data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys of 1998 and 2009

• Lee Y
• Shim JE
• Yoon J

• KMID: 2267390
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2012.17.1.109

Abstract

This study was conducted to characterize changes in the meal structure of Korean children in terms of temporal and spatial dimensions. The data of 1,891 and 1,627 school-aged children and adolescents extracted respectively from the 1998 and 2009 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys were analyzed by gender, age group, and residential area. From 1998 to 2009, the total eating events increased from 4.3 to 4.6 (p = 0.001); the average number of meal intake decreased from 2.8 to 2.7 (p < 0.001) while that of snack intake increased from 1.5 to 1.9 (p < 0.001). The prevalence of "3 meals a day" pattern tended to decrease while that of "2 meals a day" pattern increased over the years. Especially, the "2 meals a day" pattern with "lunch + dinner" increased from 13% in 1998 to 20% in 2009. The percentage of eating breakfast or dinner at home decreased over the years. These results indicate that over the last decade, "destructuration" occurred in Korean children's meal structure in terms of temporal and spatial dimensions. Especially, such alteration was more distinctive in male than female and in the high school-aged group than the elementary or middle school-aged groups. Overall, the difference of meal structure between genders and residential areas became smaller while the difference among age groups became larger over the years.

Keyword

children; adolescent; meal structure; meal pattern; destructuration

MeSH Terms

Adolescent
Breakfast
Child
Eating
Female
Humans
Korea
Male
Meals
Prevalence
Snacks

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1. Distribution of number of meals in 1998 and in 20091).

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