Nutrition knowledge scores of Korean male and female high school students (626.5)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine nutrition knowledge of Korean high school students for nutrition education.The subjects were 276 high school students (male 138, female 138) in Incheon metropolitan city, Korea. A cross‐sectional survey was conducted using a questionnaire and the statistical data were analyzed with SPSS 12.0 program. As for the distribution of weight by BMI, there was significant difference between male and female students (p<0.001); 54.3% of the male normal, 10.9% overweight, 14.5% obese, 20.3% underweight and 47.8% of the female normal, 40.6% underweight, 12.2% obese, 9.4% overweight. As for nutrition knowledge scores, the female students (31.97/50) showed significantly higher average score compared to the male students (29.96/50) (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in nutrition knowledge scores according to BMI in the male students. However, there was significant difference in nutrition knowledge scores according to BMI in the female students (p<0.05); underweight (32.86/50), normal (32.50/50), overweight (27.69/50), obese (22.50/50) in order. As for source from which they got nutrition knowledge, there was no significant difference between male and female students. There was significant difference in nutrition knowledge scores according to source from which they got nutrition knowledge (p<0.05); dietitian (35.75/50), nutrition education class (32.35/50), mass media (31.37/50), internet (31.00/50), family, relatives and friend (28.25/50). Therefore, nutrition education according to gender and BMI should be provided in high school in Korea.