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Television viewing behaviour and associations with food habits in different countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

Carine A Vereecken ,
Joanna Todd ,
Chris Roberts ,
Caroline Mulvihill  and
Lea Maes
Carine A Vereecken*
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, Ghent University, UH, Block A, 2nd floor, De Pintelaan 185, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium:
Joanna Todd
Affiliation:
Child & Adolescent Health Research Unit, Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK:
Chris Roberts
Affiliation:
Research and Evaluation Branch, Health Promotion Division, Welsh Assembly Government, Cardiff, UK:
Caroline Mulvihill
Affiliation:
Health Development Agency, Holborn Gate, London, UK
Lea Maes
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, Ghent University, UH, Block A, 2nd floor, De Pintelaan 185, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium:
*
*Corresponding author: Email [email protected]
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Abstract

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Objective

Several environmental factors influence adolescents' food habits and television (TV) viewing is thought to be one of these factors. The purpose of the present study was to describe sociodemographic differences in TV viewing and to examine associations of TV viewing with the consumption of sweets, soft drinks, fruit and vegetables in different countries.

Methods

Data were collected from 162 305 young people completing the 2001/02 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children survey, a World Health Organization cross-national study on health and health behaviours among 11–, 13– and 15–year-old school pupils. Analyses of variance were used to examine sociodemographic differences in TV viewing and logistic regression analyses to examine associations between TV viewing and food habits.

Results

Large differences were found between countries in reported daily TV viewing time, from an average of 2.0 h in Switzerland to 3.7 h in Ukraine. The results indicate that those most likely to watch TV are boys, 13-year-olds and pupils of lower socio-economic status. Those who watched more TV were more likely to consume sweets and soft drinks on a daily basis and less likely to consume fruit and vegetables daily, although the latter associations were not so apparent among Central and Eastern European countries.

Conclusions

Given the high TV viewing rates among adolescents and the association with less healthy food options, many young people are at increased risk of overweight or obesity. Interventions to modify TV viewing behaviour are needed. The findings underscore the importance of tackling socio-economic differences.

Keywords

TelevisionAdolescentsFruitVegetablesSoft drinksSweets
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , April 2006 , pp. 244 - 250
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2006

References

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