Socio-economic disparities in Australian adolescents' eating behaviours. Issue 12 (23rd October 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Niven, Philippa; Scully, Maree; Morley, Belinda; Crawford, David; Baur, Louise A; Wakefield, Melanie
• Is Part Of: Public health nutrition. Volume 17:Issue 12(2014)
• Page Start: 2753
• Page End: 2758
• Publication Date: 2013-10-23
• Subjects: Nutrition -- Periodicals; Nutrition policy -- Periodicals; Public health -- Periodicals; 613.2
• DOI: 10.1017/S1368980013002784
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1368-9800

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="normal"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="abs1" sec-type="general"> <title>Objective</title> <p>To assess the association between socio-economic position (SEP) and poor eating behaviours in a large representative sample of Australian secondary-school students.</p> </sec> <sec id="abs2" sec-type="general"> <title>Design</title> <p>Cross-sectional survey of students' vegetable, fruit, sugar-sweetened beverage and fast-food consumption assessed using validated instruments and collected via a web-based self-report format.</p> </sec> <sec id="abs3" sec-type="general"> <title>Setting</title> <p>Secondary schools across all Australian states and territories.</p> </sec> <sec id="abs4" sec-type="subjects"> <title>Subjects</title> <p>Secondary-school students (<italic>n</italic> 12 188; response rate: 54 %) aged 12–17 years participating in the 2009–10 National Secondary Students' Diet and Activity (NaSSDA) survey.</p> </sec> <sec id="abs5" sec-type="results"> <title>Results</title> <p>Overall, 25 % of students reported consuming ≤1 serving of vegetables/d and 29 % reported eating ≤1 serving of fruit/d. Fourteen per cent of students reported drinking at least 1–2 cups of sugar-sweetened beverages/d while 9 % reported eating fast food ≥3 times/week. After adjusting for other demographic factors, students of lower-SEP areas were more likely to report low intake of vegetables (<italic>F</italic>(4, 231) = 3·61, <italic>P</italic> = 0·007) and high frequency of consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (<italic>F</italic>(4, 231) = 8·41, <italic>P</italic> < 0·001) and fast food (<italic>F</italic>(4, 231) = 4·59, <italic>P</italic> = 0·001) compared with students of high-SEP neighbourhoods. A positive SEP association was found for fruit consumption among female students only (<italic>F</italic>(4, 231) = 4·20, <italic>P</italic> = 0·003). Those from lower-SEP areas were also more likely to engage in multiple poor eating behaviours (<italic>F</italic>(4, 231)=5·80, <italic>P</italic> < 0·001).</p> </sec> <sec id="abs6" sec-type="conclusion"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>Results suggest that socio-economic disparities in Australian adolescents' eating behaviours do exist, with students residing in lower-SEP neighbourhoods faring less well than those from high-SEP neighbourhoods. Reducing social inequalities in eating behaviours among young people should be a key consideration of future preventive strategies.</p> </sec> </abstract>