Correlates of fruit and vegetable consumption among 11-year-old Belgian-Flemish and Dutch schoolchildren.

Full Abstract

OBJECTIVE:
To determine factors associated with the consumption of fruit and vegetables among 11-year-old schoolchildren in Belgium-Flanders and the Netherlands.

DESIGN:
In total, 2468 school children from 98 randomly selected schools participated in a cross-sectional survey.

VARIABLES MEASURED:
Frequency of fruit and vegetable intake and potential personal, social and environmental correlates were measured by means of self-administered, school-based, written questionnaires.

ANALYSIS:
Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to assess potential correlates of schoolchildren's fruit and vegetable consumption. Separate analyses were conducted for boys and girls.

RESULTS:
Bringing fruit to school, modeling behavior of parents and friends, parents demanding that their child eat fruit, knowledge about recommended intake levels, liking fruit, and self-efficacy to eat fruit were the strongest correlates of fruit intake. For vegetables, gender, parental demand, parents facilitating the consumption of vegetables by cutting them for their child, modeling behavior of parents and friends, and preferences for vegetables emerged as strongest correlates. No substantial differences in significant correlates were found according to gender. The percentage of explained variance was 33.7% for fruit and 28.4% for vegetable intake.

CONCLUSIONS:
Interventions need to be focused on personal (taste preferences), social (parental influences), and environmental factors (availability).

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Wind, Marianne (M); de Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse (I); te Velde, Saskia J (SJ); Sandvik, Camilla (C); Due, Pernille (P); Klepp, Knut-Inge (KI); Brug, Johannes (J);

Affiliation: Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, The Netherlands. m.wind(-atsign-)erasmusmc.nl

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of nutrition education and behavior (J Nutr Educ Behav), published in Canada. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2006 Jul-Aug; vol 38 (issue 4) : pp 211-21

Dates: Created 2006/06/20; Completed 2006/08/09; Revised 2008/11/21;

PMID: 16785090, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Belgium
Child
Child Nutritional Physiology Phenomena - education
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Food Preferences - psychology
Fruit
Humans

Humans
Male
Netherlands
Parent-Child Relations
Parents - education; psychology
Questionnaires
Regression Analysis
Vegetables

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.