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Table 1 Study population description

From: Associations of individual factors and early childhood education and care (ECEC) centres characteristics with preschoolers’ BMI in Germany

 

Total (n = 1,151)

Boys (n = 604)

Girls (n = 546)

Test value

P-value

Micro level

 Body-Mass-Index (mean / SD)

15.32

1.57

15.38

1.60

15.25

1.53

1.30

0.194

 SDS Body-Mass-Index (mean / SD)

-0.31

1.14

-0.31

1.21

-0.31

1.05

-0.08

0.933

Parental SEP

 School education

Low (% / n)

13.19

127

12.50

63

13.94

64

0.94

0.624

Middle (% / n)

43.93

423

43.25

218

44.66

205

  

High (% / n)

42.89

413

44.25

223

41.39

190

  

 Vocational training

Low (% / n)

37.49

346

37.04

180

37.99

166

0.45

0.798

Middle (% / n)

23.19

214

22.63

110

23.80

104

  

High (% / n)

39.33

363

40.33

196

38.22

167

  

 Income

Low (% / n)

22.38

184

22.25

93

22.52

91

0.02

0.991

Middle (% / n)

37.35

307

37.56

157

37.13

150

  

High (% / n)

40.27

331

40.19

168

40.35

163

  

Covariates

 Age (months; mean / SD)

57.48

9.03

57.11

9.18

57.88

8.85

-1.46

0.145

 Migration background (yes; % / n)

36.07

351

34.97

178

37.15

172

0.50

0.480

 Employment status mother

Full time (% / n)

7.79

74

8.45

42

7.08

32

2.29

0.320

Part-time (% / n)

56.42

536

57.95

288

54.87

248

  

Not employed (% / n)

35.79

340

33.60

167

38.05

172

  

 Employment status father

Full time (% / n)

94.61

860

93.76

451

95.78

409

1.85

0.397

Part-time (% / n)

1.87

17

2.08

10

1.41

6

  

Not employed (% / n)

3.52

32

4.16

20

2.81

12

  

Intermediate aspects

 Structural: number of siblings

No sibling (% / n)

38.76

274

40.66

148

36.73

126

2.78

0.250

One sibling (% / n)

39.89

282

40.38

147

39.36

135

  

Two and more siblings (% / n)

21.36

151

18.96

69

23.91

82

  

 Psychosocial: strained family relationships (yes, % / n)

12.72

124

12.77

65

12.47

58

0.02

0.889

 Behavioural (nutrition): soft drink consumption (yes, % / n)

21.90

187

21.04

93

22.87

94

0.42

0.519

 Behavioural (nutrition): meal in fastfood restaurant (yes, % / n)

46.49

430

47.35

232

45.39

197

0.35

0.552

Meso level

 Average group size

 < 20 children (% / n)

22.84

211

24.23

118

21.33

93

1.95

0.377

20—25 children (% / n)

56.82

525

56.88

277

56.65

247

  

 > 25 children (% / n)

20.35

188

18.89

92

22.02

96

  

 Ratio to overweight children

Few overweight children (% / n)

43.11

410

43.06

217

43.05

192

0.80

0.671

Some overweight children (% / n)

32.28

307

33.33

168

31.17

139

  

More overweight children (% / n)

24.61

234

23.61

119

25.78

115

  

 ECEC centre type (all-day care, % / n)

35.71

411

34.44

208

37.18

203

0.94

0.333

 Neighbourhood

Rural (% / n)

71.76

826

72.85

440

70.70

386

0.66

0.418

Urban (% / n)

28.24

325

27.15

164

29.30

160

  
  1. Test value T-test for continuous variables and Chi2 test for categorial variables, ECEC Early childhood education and care, SDS Body-Mass-Index Age- and gender-specific standard deviation score of the BMI [25]