224510 Length of Unsupervised, Eating Habits, and Academic Performance among children in South Korea

Monday, November 8, 2010 : 3:30 PM - 3:45 PM

Ahyoung Song, MA , School of Social Welfare, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
Background: Concerns is growing in South Korea about improper eating habits among children, triggered by recent changes in families and by the overall nutritional environment. Poor eating habits are not simply a health issue, but affect children's cognitive development and scholastic achievement. Against this background, this study explores the association between children's eating habits, length of unsupervised period after school, and academic performance. Methods: Cross-sectional data on 9-11 year-old children (N=1,150) from the “Korea Children and Adolescents National Survey (N=6,900)” was used. Subjects were selected from across the country by a stratified sampling method according to region and age and each subject was interviewed by a trained examiner. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify the relationship between length of unsupervised periods, eating habits, and academic performance. Results: In terms of eating habits, about 31% of children were not consuming fruit every day, 28% for vegetables. 32.2% of children were exposed to fast or instant food more than three times per week. These eating habits were significantly influenced by the average number of unsupervised hours after school on weekdays (p=.00). Eating habits significantly affected academic performance (p=.00). The mediation effect of eating habits by Sobel test was significant (p=.00, Sobel test statistic=2.940).Conclusion: Children who are likely to spend time without adults present are more likely to have negative eating habits and reduced performance in academic circumstances. Additional services should focus on promoting appropriate eating habits and ensuring nutritious meals.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Public health or related public policy
Social and behavioral sciences
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
1.Describe in detail the eating habits of South Korean children. 2. Discuss the nutritional environment in this country. 2. Explain the relationship between the outcome variables (academic performance) and the predictors (eating habits and unsupervised duration) by identifying the mediation effect of eating habits between the two variables (unsupervised period and academic performance). 3. Discuss the importance of awareness of family systems and children’s eating habits and their consequences (academic performance).

Keywords: Child Neglect, Nutrition

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to be an abstract Author on the content I am responsible for because I work for chilren's health and conduct research on programs such as food insecurity, neglect, eating habits among children.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.