Eating behaviour and its association with social living conditions and weight status among adolescent girls: results of the cross-sectional Berlin School Children's Cohort study

Abstract

Objective: To capture a more holistic picture of eating behaviour by investigating the impact of the social living conditions and weight status of parents and daughters on food consumption frequency, the context of meals and daily portion sizes. Design: Cross-sectional Berlin School Children's Cohort study. Setting: A total of sixty-nine schools in Berlin (3 400 000 inhabitants, eastern Germany) participated in the present study. Subjects: A total of 1519 girls aged 11-14 years were selected. Bi-and multivariate analyses were performed to examine the impact of age, migration background, socio-economic status (SES), parental education, family situation and the weight status of parents and daughters on three different eating behaviour scores according to nutritional recommendations. Results: For the three dependent eating behaviour variables, different patterns of influencing factors emerged. Multivariate regression (model 1) revealed that low and middle SES, two-parent migration background and older age were significant risk factors. Meal context was also significantly influenced by living with a single parent. Similar results were obtained for the daily portion size scores and maternal overweight status was the most influential. Model 2 succeeded in showing that, within the composite variable of family SES, mothers' level of education was the dominant component. Conclusions: SES as a whole, and especially the component of mothers' level of education and two-parent migration background, was the strongest risk factor for an unfavourable eating pattern among adolescent girls. The results clearly indicated preventive potential. Using three different measures of eating behaviour simultaneously provided an in-depth understanding of general patterns and potential risk factors. The majority of Western citizens in the 21st century have all the prerequisites for leading a healthy life. However, non-communicable diseases partially caused by unhealthy eating behaviour are on the rise in industrialized nations (1) . Research on eating behaviour tends to focus on eating disorders and obesity. Much research exists on the genetics of obesity, but little on the environment and intermediary behaviours (e.g. eating behaviour) that promote childhood overweight (2) . Unhealthy eating behaviour is labelled as a modifiable risk factor (1,3) for non-communicable diseases and research on eating behaviour is crucial. Because of the vast number of variables, eating behaviour is one of the most complex behaviours and thus hard to capture (4) . Nevertheless, much literature exists on the effect of consumption frequency, such as breakfast habits, in adults or of specific food items, such as fruit, vegetables and sweets, in adolescents' eating behaviour (5)(6)(7) . Research on eating behaviour in subpopulations and its influencing factors is also limited. Only a few studies exist on the eating behaviour of adolescent girls, especially those stratified by specific determinants such as socio-economic status (SES) and biological backgrou...

Legumes Consumption among Young and Adult Residents In Sicily (South Italy): Evidence and Predictive Factors

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