Gender Differences in Adolescents' Dietary Perceptions and Practices / 대한지역사회영양학회지

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: This study attempted to compare adolescents' dietary behaviors and perceptions by gender in order to recommend useful strategies for nutrition interventions. METHODS: Subjects were 2,363 middle school (MS) and high school (HS) students. They completed a self-administered questionnaire on their interest in diet and health, dietary perceptions, nutrition knowledge, dietary practices, and dietary environment at home. Data were analyzed using t-test, χ2-test, and simple regression analysis by gender and by school groups. RESULTS: Overall, girls obtained higher scores than boys did for "interest" (MS p<0.001; HS p<0.01), "dietary perceptions" (MS p<0.001; HS p<0.01), and "knowledge" (MS p<0.01; HS p<0.001). Regarding "dietary practices," no gender differences were observed among MS students, however, among HS students, boys obtained higher scores-reflecting good practices-than girls did (p<0.01). In all subjects, dietary environment at home was strongly associated with dietary practice than other variables (MS boys β=0.435, p<0.001; MS girls β=0.492, p<0.001, HS boys β=0.271, p<0.001; HS girls β=0.429, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: We observed gender differences in some of the variables such as knowledge and perception among adolescent students. Educational programs and core strategies that consider these gender differences need to be developed. Specifically, for girls, educational programs should focus on facilitating dietary recommendation adherence, whereas for boys, the program could focus on improving dietary knowledge and perceptions.