Eating Behaviour & Parental Self-Efficacy Among School-Going Children

Abstract

Enforcing a healthier lifestyle at the school level helps school-going children change their lives in a better way. Limited studies have been conducted on nutritional status and eating behaviours. The study is to find out the nutritional status among selected school-going children and study their eating behaviour in Coimbatore City. Five hundred school-going children were selected for the study from six schools in the urban areas of Coimbatore District. The nutritional status and eating behaviour were studied among school children using the Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26 scale). 300 boys and 200 girls in the age group of 11-13 years were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The anthropometric measurements of height and weight were measured using standard procedures. Body Mass Index (BMI) was determined using WHO standards. The Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26) was applied to study the eating behaviour of children. The Parental Self-Efficacy Questionnaire(PSEQ) and Eating Self-Efficacy Brief Scale (ESEBS) were used to study the parental and eating self-efficacy of children and parents at risk of developing EAT-26. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 19.6 % and 9.6 %, respectively, among the 500 children. Thinness and severe thinness were 10% and 6.2%, respectively, among the children. Eating behaviour results showed that 36.7% of boys and 45.0% of girls were at risk of developing eating disorders.