The purpose of this study was to investigate eating habits and nutrition knowledge of middle school students in certain areas of Daegu, and to promote the need for nutrition education proper for adolescents. A survey was conducted with 180 male and fe...
The purpose of this study was to investigate eating habits and nutrition knowledge of middle school students in certain areas of Daegu, and to promote the need for nutrition education proper for adolescents. A survey was conducted with 180 male and female middle school students in the area of Daegu in April, 2014, and the students consisted of 83 males (46.1%), 97 females (53.9%), 56 first-grade students (31.1%), 57 second-grade students (31.7%), and 67 third-grade students (37.2%). The ratio of students who had received nutrition education in the last year was 17.5% and who had not received was 82.5%. For the number of meal skip, 53.0% of male students turned out to skip meals once a month, the highest, and 32.3% of female students turned out to skip meals once to three times a week, the highest (p<0.001). Regarding to grades, 50.0% and 40.4% of first-grade and second-grade students turned out to skip meals once a month, respectively, the highest, and 25.8% of third-grade students turned out to skip meals once to three times a week, the highest (p<0.01).
For the question, ‘Do you think your eating habits are right?’, 59.0% of male students answered ‘Normal’, the highest, and 44.3% of female students answered ‘Yes’, the highest (p<0.05). As a result of investigating ingestion of salty and spicy strong-tasting foods, although there was no significant difference according to grades or genders, 30.5% of the entire students answered ‘I don’t ingest strong-tasting foods’, and 69.4% answered ‘ingest saltier and spicier strong-tasting foods than normal’. 78.3% of the entire students answered ‘I rarely or never do overeating/binge’, and the reasons of doing overeating/binge turned out to be ‘When I skipped a meal’ (36.6%), ‘When I ate too little’ (21.5%), ‘Depends on my feelings’ (17.2%), and ‘Because of academic stress’ (12.9%). The reasons of doing overeating/binge showed significant differences according to grades (p<0.05). For the question, ‘Do you check the nutrition label when you purchase foods?’, 71.1% of female students and 48.2% of male students answered higher than ‘Normal’, which indicates that female students check the nutrition label when they purchase foods more frequently than male students (p<0.05).
As a result of investigating nutrition knowledge, the total average score turned out to be 11.19 out of 15. Although it showed no significant difference according to genders, the total average score of male students was 10.99 and that of female students was 11.36, which indicates that the nutrition knowledge score of female students is higher. For grades, the nutrition knowledge scores of third-grade, second-grade, and first-grade students turned out to be 11.63, 11.14, and 10.71, respectively, which indicates that as grade gets higher, the total average nutrition knowledge score gets higher (p<0.05).
As a result of investigating nutrition education demand, 58.4% of the entire students answered ‘I think nutrition education is necessary’ and 41.6% answered ‘I don’t think nutrition education is necessary’, and for the reasons of thinking nutrition education would not be necessary, 54.1% answered ‘Because even if I receive nutrition education, I wouldn’t put it in action’, the highest, followed by ‘It is enough to receive nutrition education at home’ (21.6%) and ‘The school is already giving enough nutrition education’ (12.2%). Most students answered that nutritionists would be the most suitable for nutrition education(71.7%), and for the question, ‘What do you think is the most appropriate class for nutrition education?’, 46.3% and 19.5% of male students answered ‘Class through a subject’ and ‘Cooking practice’, respectively, and 32.0% and 28.9% of female students answered ‘Cooking practice’ and ‘Class through a subject’, respectively(p<0.05).
As a result of analyzing the difference between the perceived importance of nutrition education and demand for nutrition education, the total average score of importance was 4.13 and that of education demand was 3.91, which indicates that education demand is lower than perceived importance (p<0.001), and the perceived importance was higher than education demand on the all 16 items (p<0.05). The three items, nutrition label information education, traditional food culture of Korea, and food cultures of the world turned out to have lower importance than other items, and for demand, although its total average score was below 4, the six items, that is, obesity and weight control, food hygiene and preservation, prevention of food poisoning, diseases and dietary life, panning diet menu and balanced diet, and right eating habits had higher average scores than other items.
This study investigated eating habits and life habits, and the level of nutrition knowledge of middle school students in certain districts of Daegu, and the perceived importance of nutrition education and demand for nutrition education. As a result, it was found that although they recognize the need for nutrition education, because they have few opportunities to accumulate nutrition knowledge, there are few related programs, and dietary life education is included only in technology/home economics classes. The importance of constant nutrition education is not being properly realized by middle school students and it is hard for students to practice it. Therefore, It is necessary to develop nutrition education programs in which students can participate with interests, and nutritionists need to make continuous efforts as educators for nutrition education with a sense of responsibility.