Sociodemographic correlates of food habits among school adolescents (12–15 year) in north Gaza Strip

Abudayya, Abdallah H; Stigum, Hein; Shi, Zumin; Abed, Yehia; Holmboe-Ottesen, Gerd

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-9-185

BMC Public Health

Table 3 Meal patterns and food intake of Palestinian adolescent girls (n = 505) from North Gaza Strip by sociodemographic factors (%)^a

From: Sociodemographic correlates of food habits among school adolescents (12–15 year) in north Gaza Strip

		Resident status^b			Household SES^c				Mother education^f
	Total (%)	Local Citizen (n = 186)	Refugee (n = 315)	P	Low (n = 114)	Medium (n = 249)	High (n = 128)	p	Low (n = 290)	Medium /high (n = 207)	p
Meal pattern (7 t/w) ^d
Breakfast	59.0^†	57.0	60.3	0.26	45.6	61.4	65.6	0.003	57.2	59.9	0.31
Lunch	87.7^†	83.9	90.2	0.03	83.9	90.4	89.8	0.02	85.9	89.9	0.12
Dinner	46.5	45.2	47.6	0.33	36.0	47.0	54.7	0.01	47.6	45.4	0.35
3 meals/day	36.4^†	32.8	38.7	0.11	21.1	38.6	46.1	<0.001	47.6	45.4	0.35
Snacks	21.1	18.8	22.2	0.21	14.0	22.5	20.8	0.13	20.7	20.8	0.53
Food intake (weekly basis) ^e
Beef (>3 t/w)	7.9	8.6	7.6	0.49	2.6	7.6	7.9	0.01	6.6	9.7	0.14
Chicken (>3 t/w)	3.8	3.2	4.1	0.40	0.9	3.6	7.0	0.04	3.8	3.9	0.57
Bread (≥ 20 t/w)	68.9^†	66.7	70.5	0.21	66.7	72.3	65.6	0.33	70.0	66.7	0.24
Cookies (≥ 7 t/w)	19.6^†	10.8	25.1	<0.001	14.0	18.1	28.1	0.01	18.3	21.3	0.24
Soft drinks (≥ 7 t/w)	9.3^†	4.3	12.4	0.002	5.3	9.6	13.3	0.11	7.6	10.6	0.15
Eggs (≥ 7 t/w)	14.3	5.9	19.0	<0.001	6.1	15.7	20.3	0.01	12.7	17.4	0.08
Rice (≥ 7 t/w)	10.1^†	2.7	14.3	<0.001	2.6	14.5	9.4	0.003	7.9	13.5	0.03
Fruits (≥ 7 t/w)	16.2^†	11.3	19.4	0.01	8.8	16.1	21.9	0.02	14.5	18.4	0.15
Juice (≥ 7 t/w)	14.7^†	9.1	17.8	0.007	8.8	14.1	21.9	0.01	14.8	14.0	0.45
Chocolates (≥ 7 t/w)	17.0^†	10.8	21.0	0.002	8.8	17.7	24.2	0.01	15.9	17.9	0.32
Yogurt (≥ 7 t/w)	20.8	21.0	20.6	0.51	14.9	19.7	29.7	0.01	20.0	22.2	0.31
Vegetables (≥ 7 t/w)	34.1^†	18.8	42.9	0.005	20.2	32.1	52.3	<0.001	30.0	39.1	0.02
Milk (≥ 7 t/w)	29.9	29.6	30.5	0.47	17.5	30.9	38.3	0.002	26.9	34.3	0.047
Cheese (≥ 7 t/w)	35.0	26.3	40.6	0.001	15.8	34.1	54.7	<0.001	26.6	46.9	<0.001
Legumes (≥ 7 t/w)	14.7^†	14.0	15.2	0.34	13.2	16.1	14.1	0.74	15.5	14.0	0.37
Tea (≥ 20 t/w)	29.9	29.6	30.2	0.49	31.6	29.3	28.1	0.84	31.7	26.6	0.13

^†χ² test was used to compare differences between boys and girls. Statistical significance was considered at, p < 0.05
^aχ² was used to compare differences between sociodemographic variables. P < 0.05 considered to be significant
^bPalestinian population is divided into two Resident status groups; refugees and local citizens. In which 70% of the Gaza Population is with refugee status while 30% of them are with local citizen status.
^cHousehold SES score was based on the possession of 6 household amenities; each item was given a value of 1.
^dThere are three meals consumed on a daily basis in the Palestinian context, in which lunch is the main family meal.
^eFoods items frequency intake was calculated on weekly basis and grouped into two categories according to their weekly consumption. Meat and chicken were grouped as > 3 times and 3 times or less per week, bread was grouped as < 20 times and ≥ 20 times per week and all other food items were grouped as <7 times and ≥ 7 times per week.
^fMother's education level was divided into two categories based on the numbers of years of education; (1) low was considered 11 years or less, (2) medium/high was considered 12 or more.

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ISSN: 1471-2458

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