Emotional and instrumental feeding practices of Dutch mothers regarding foods eaten between main meals

BMC Public Health

Table 1 Demographic, socioeconomic and other characteristics of mothers and children included in the study (N = 359)

Characteristics	Mean (SD)	%
*Characteristics of the mother*
Age	38.4 (5.6)
≤ 30		7.8
30–35		22.0
35–40		33.1
40–45		27.6
≥ 45		9.5
Educational level ¹
Low		21.4
Intermediate		46.8
High		31.8
SEP ²
Low		33.4
Intermediate		31.8
High		34.8
BMI (kg/m ² ) in categories ³	25.8 (5.1)
Underweight ≤ 18,49 kg/m²		3.1
Normal 18,5–24,99 kg/m²		48.9
Overweight 25–29,99 kg/m²		28.2
Obese 30 kg/m² and above		19.8
Perceived body size
(A little bit) too thin		4.8
Normal weight		33.1
(A little bit) too heavy		62.1
Family situation
Living together with biological father of all children		76.9
Living together with partner (not biological father of all children)		8.1
Living alone with children		12.8
Other		2.2
Number of children living at home
1		22.6
2		56.3
3		16.4
4 or more		4.7
Child care use
0 days		61.6
≥ 1 day		38.4
Familiar with NNC recommendation
Yes		20.3
No		79.7
*Characteristics of the child*
Age in years	7.0 (2.7)
≤ 4		21.7
5		17.8
6		11.4
7		11.1
8		7.8
9		6.7
10		7.5
11		8.4
≥12		7.5
Gender
Boys		55.2
Girls		44.8
Perceived body size
(A little bit) too thin		20.9
Normal weight		73.3
(A little bit) too heavy		5.8
Ethnicity ⁴
Dutch origin		89.7
Non-Dutch origin		10.3

¹Educational level (low [primary or basic vocational education], intermediate [secondary vocational school or high school] and high [higher professional education or university]) [36].
²Socioeconomic position (SEP) is based on a factor score (range -4 [high] to 4 [low]) calculated from four indicators of SEP for all Dutch postal code areas, i.e. mean income, percentage of low-income households, percentage of residents without a paid job and percentage of households with intermediate or low education [35]. The SEP was divided into tertiles with cut-off points: (low [2.62–0.27], intermediate [0.27– -0.44], high [-0.44– -2.68]).
³According to standard BMI classification by the World health Organization [33].
⁴Non-Dutch origin: having at least one parent born abroad [34].

ISSN: 1471-2458