Dietary behavior and food preference of Korean high school students by gender (626.4)

Abstract

In order to investigate Korean high school students’ dietary behavior and food preference to provide some information for nutrition education, a cross‐sectional survey was conducted using a questionnaire. The subjects were 276 high school students (male 138, female 138) in Incheon metropolitan city, Korea. The statistical data were analyzed with SPSS 12.0 program. The average height and weight of male students are 174.5 cm and 66.1 kg, respectively. The average height and weight of female students are 162.3 cm and 51.9 kg, respectively. As for meal regularity, there was significant difference between male and female students (p<0.05); female student significantly more skipped dinner compared to male students. Female students ate snack such as sweet cookies, ice cream and chocolate more frequently compared to male students (p<0.01). As for eating speed, there was no significant difference between male and female students; most students ate a meal within 20 minutes. As for balanced meal, male students ate significantly more balanced meal compared to female students (p<0.01). As for food preference, male students significantly preferred meat (p<0.01), grain (p<0.05), milk (p<0.001) and female students significantly preferred fruit (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference between male and female students in vegetable and fish preference which was low. Therefore, a variety of nutrition education program by gender should be developed to correct Korean high school students’ dietary behavior.