Meal Skipping Patterns Among Children and Adolescents

Abstract

LEARNING OUTCOME: Participants will be able describe the proportion of young people skipping meals and their attitudes about food consumption.These data are from an initiative supported by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and USDA to develop and test potential survey instruments that could be used to monitor school-based nutrition efforts. The instrument was developed using focus groups of 740 children. This report is from 392, 4-11th grade children in 12 schools in central Texas who volunteered to provide self-report information regarding their dietary intake habits, attitudes, and knowledge. The focus of this report is on meal skipping patterns. Students were asked if they skipped any meals yesterday and also whether skipping a meal affects their ability to do well with their classes and activities. Of the overall sample, 23% reported having missed breakfast yesterday with greater frequency in older grades. Only 11% reported having missed lunch and all the students reported having had dinner yesterday. Interestingly, greater than 60% of students agreed that skipping meals affects their school and activity performance, and this varied significantly depending on whether they skipped breakfast (73% breakfast eaters vs. 52% for skippers). Trying to lose weight was also associated with skipping breakfast and lunch with 42% and 47% of breakfast and lunch skippers, respectively, trying to lose weight compared to 33% for both non-skipping groups. Finally, of those having breakfast, 45% felt their eating habits were much or somewhat healthier than their peers compared to only 32% of breakfast skippers. Even though most students believe that skipping a meal will decrease their performance, this attitude is in conflict with their behavior.