Association between family factors with dietary behaviors of left-behind children in rural China / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To find out the association between family factors and left-behind children’s dietary behaviors in rural China.@*Methods@#This cross-sectional study was implemented in four counties of medium economic level were selected in Guizhou and Anhui province and four primary schools were chosen in each county and in total 16 schools were involved. Three classes from grades 5 and 6 each were selected randomly from included primary schools; all students in these classes, as well as their caregivers, were invited to participate. Self-designed questionnaire was adopted to collect intake frequencies of vegetable, fruit, meat, egg, milk, drink and fast food. Scores were calculated to evaluate these behaviors frequencies and multi-linear regression was used to explore the association between family factors and behavioral scores.@*Results@#The proportion of fruit, eggs and milk intake more than 4 times once a week in left-behind children were 44.9%, 35.1%, and 28.5%, while they were 57.2%, 38.5%, and 38.1% in non-left-behind children. It was found that statistical significant differences existed between scores of dietary behaviors of leftbehind children’s and non-left-behind children(t=-5.83, P<0.01). The results of multi-linear regression demonstrated that family cohesion (β=0.07, P=0.05) and caregivers’ behaviors (β=0.49, P<0.01) were protective factors for left-behind children’s behaviors, while taking care by single left-behind fathers was a risk factor(β=-1.21, P=0.03).@*Conclusion@#Primary caregivers play a critical role in offering guidance to children to help them develop health behaviors.