Korean J Community Nutr.  2016 Apr;21(2):165-177. 10.5720/kjcn.2016.21.2.165.

Gender Differences in Adolescents' Dietary Perceptions and Practices

• Woo T
• Lee HJ
• Lee KA
• Lee SM
• Lee KH

• KMID: 2269417
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2016.21.2.165

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
This study attempted to compare adolescents' dietary behaviors and perceptions by gender in order to recommend useful strategies for nutrition interventions.
METHODS
Subjects were 2,363 middle school (MS) and high school (HS) students. They completed a self-administered questionnaire on their interest in diet and health, dietary perceptions, nutrition knowledge, dietary practices, and dietary environment at home. Data were analyzed using t-test, χ2-test, and simple regression analysis by gender and by school groups.
RESULTS
Overall, girls obtained higher scores than boys did for "interest" (MS: p<0.001; HS: p<0.01), "dietary perceptions" (MS: p<0.001; HS: p<0.01), and "knowledge" (MS: p<0.01; HS: p<0.001). Regarding "dietary practices," no gender differences were observed among MS students, however, among HS students, boys obtained higher scores-reflecting good practices-than girls did (p<0.01). In all subjects, dietary environment at home was strongly associated with dietary practice than other variables (MS boys: β=0.435, p<0.001; MS girls: β=0.492, p<0.001, HS boys: β=0.271, p<0.001; HS girls: β=0.429, p<0.001).
CONCLUSIONS
We observed gender differences in some of the variables such as knowledge and perception among adolescent students. Educational programs and core strategies that consider these gender differences need to be developed. Specifically, for girls, educational programs should focus on facilitating dietary recommendation adherence, whereas for boys, the program could focus on improving dietary knowledge and perceptions.

Keyword

dietary perception; dietary practice; adolescent

MeSH Terms

Adolescent
Diet
Female
Humans

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