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Influences on schoolchildren's dietary selection : focus on fat and fibre at breakfast

Abstract
One important aim of the Swedish Action Programme for Nutrition is to increase the consumption of dietary fibre and decrease fat intake. The currently available extensive range of fat-reduced and fibre-enriched foods makes these dietary practices possible, but also makes the selection of a health promoting diet more complex. This thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of psychosocial influences on schoolchildren’s food choice, with specific attention to fat and fibre content. The focus was on breakfast because typical Swedish breakfast foods are important sources of fat and fibre. The Theory of Planned Behaviour formed the theoretical basis of the studies. All pupils in the 5th, 7th and 9th grades in Mölndal municipality (N=1730) were asked to complete a questionnaire and a 7-day food record. Interviews were performed with 181 of those subjects. A picture-sort interview technique, the “stacking box methodology”, was employed to describe perceptions and habitual choices. Assessing diets of children and adolescents is not an easy task. As in all dietary surveys, reporting and participation biases may exist. The present study using food records illustrates several such biases, which should be taken into consideration in the design, analysis and interpretation of future studies. The “stacking box methodology” seems promising, and appeared to have some advantages compared to traditional methods. However, the two dietary assessment methods generally yielded similar results. Reduced-fat choices of milk and margarine were common, although a considerable number of subjects consumed full-fat products. When it comes to the consumption of bread and cereals, the low-fibre alternatives dominated. At the age of 11 as well as 15, children’s own attitudes and underlying beliefs were of importance for breakfast food choices, as was parental influence. Parents influenced food choice by controlling food availability, acting as models and encouraging the child to consume. The perceived parental norms supported dietary changes towards products with more fibre but not towards fat-reduced products. However, the perception of parents’ own consumption seemed to favour consumption of fat-reduced milk. Participants’ attitudes were associated with health beliefs as well as taste perceptions. In general, the results suggest that taste may be a barrier to the consumption of high-fibre products, while consumption of low-fat products appears to be impeded by health beliefs. Contrary to several other studies, the present results suggest that some aspects of young people’s dietary behaviour are related to their knowledge. Specifically, the choice of high-fibre products was associated with knowledge of fibre sources and the choice of fat-reduced milk products was associated with a positive attitude towards limited fat intake.
Parts of work
I. Berg C, Jonsson I, Conner M T, Lissner L. Sources of bias in a dietary survey of children. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1998;52:663-667.::pmid::9756123
 
II. Berg. C, Jonsson I, Conner M. Understanding choice of milk and bread for breakfast among Swedish children aged 11-15 years: An application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Appetite 2000; 34:5-19.::PMID::10744887
 
III. Berg M C, Jonsson I, Conner M T, Lissner L. Relation between breakfast food choices and knowledge of dietary fat and fiber among Swedish schoolchildren. Journal of Adolescent Health 2002; 31:199- 207.::PMID::12127391
 
IV. Berg C, Jonsson I, Conner M, Lissner L. Schoolchildren’s perceptions and reasons for choice of fat and fibre containing foods. Submitted.::PMID::12631506
 
University
University of Gothenburg. Faculty of Education
Institution
Department of Home Economics
Publisher
Göteborg : Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2077/9500
Collections
  • Doctoral Theses from University of Gothenburg / Doktorsavhandlingar från Göteborgs universitet
  • Gothenburg Studies in Educational Sciences
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gupea_2077_9500_1.pdf (821.0Kb)
Date
2002
Author
Berg, Christina
Keywords
Food habits
Food choice
Health behaviour
Dietary surveys
Attitude
Knowledge
Dietary fibre
Dietary fats
Children
Adolescents
Family
Publication type
Doctoral thesis
ISBN
91-7346-436-8
ISSN
0436-1121
Series/Report no.
Göteborg studies in educational sciences
179
Language
eng
Metadata
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