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Snacking behaviours of adolescents and their association with skipping meals

Savige, Gayle, MacFarlane, Abbie, Ball, Kylie, Worsley, Anthony and Crawford, David 2007, Snacking behaviours of adolescents and their association with skipping meals, International journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, vol. 4, no. 36, pp. 1-9.

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Title Snacking behaviours of adolescents and their association with skipping meals
Author(s) Savige, Gayle
MacFarlane, Abbie
Ball, Kylie
Worsley, Anthony
Crawford, David
Journal name International journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity
Volume number 4
Issue number 36
Start page 1
End page 9
Publisher BioMed Central Ltd
Place of publication London, England
Publication date 2007-09-17
ISSN 1479-5868
Summary Background: Snacking is likely to play an important role in the development of overweight and obesity, yet little is known about the contexts of snacking in adolescents or how snacking may influence other dietary habits, like meal skipping. This study examines the contexts in which adolescents snack and whether these contexts are associated with demographic characteristics of adolescents and with meal skipping.
Methods: A cross-sectional, self-reported online food habits survey was administered to 3,250 secondary students in years seven and nine. The students were drawn from 37 secondary schools in Victoria, Australia during 2004–2005. Frequencies of meal skipping, and snacking in eight contexts, were compared across gender, year level and region of residence. Logistic regressions were performed to examine associations between snacking contexts and meal skipping adjusting for gender and region.
Results: The most common contexts for snacking among adolescents were after school (4.6 times per week), while watching TV (3.5 times per week) and while hanging out with friends (2.4 times per week). Adolescents were least likely to snack all day long (0.8 times per week) or in the middle of the night (0.4 times per week). Snacking contexts were variously associated with gender, year level and region. In contrast, meal skipping was associated with gender and region of residence but not year level. Adolescents who reported more frequent snacking on the run, on the way to or from school, all day long, or in the middle of the night were more likely to skip meals.
Conclusion: These data suggest adolescents snack frequently, especially in their leisure time. In addition, adolescents who snack on the run, on the way to or from school, all day long or in the middle of the night are more likely to skip meals than are adolescents who don't snack at these times. Understanding the contexts in which adolescents snack, and their associations with skipping meals, may assist those involved in the promotion of healthy food habits among adolescents.
Notes This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Language eng
Field of Research 111199 Nutrition and Dietetics not elsewhere classified
HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal
Copyright notice ©2007, Savige et al
Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30007385

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Created: Mon, 29 Sep 2008, 08:51:30 EST