Perceptions and Use of Premium Snacks and Associated Factors in School Aged Children and Their Mothers in Kyung-Ki Area

Article information

Korean J Health Promot. 2014;14(3):121-130

Publication date (electronic) : 2014 January 20

doi : https://doi.org/10.15384/kjhp.2014.14.3.121

Hye-Young Yang ¹, Hyo-Suk Lee ², Jayong Chung ²^,

¹Nutrition Education Major, Graduate School of Education, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea

²Department of Food and Nutrition, College of Human Ecology, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea

Corresponding author：Jayong Chung, PhD Department of Food and Nutrition, College of Human Ecology, Kyung Hee University, 26, Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 130-701, Korea Tel: +82-2-961-0977, Fax: +82-2-961-0261 E-mail: jchung@khu.ac.kr

Received 2014 June 17; Accepted 2014 July 30.

Abstract

Background

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions and use of premium snacks (PS) in school aged children. In addition, the influence of their mothers attitude toward the PS use on the children's PS eating behavior was examined.

Methods

337 boys and 292 girls and their mothers (n=535) were participated in this study. Participants were recruited from two elementary schools located in Kyung-ki area. Information on general characteristics, the frequencies of general snack eating and associated factors, and the frequencies of PS eating and associated factors were obtained by a self-administered questionnaire.

Results

The mean frequency of PS eating were 1.12 times/wk in boys and 0.98 times/wk in girls. The PS eating frequency was positively associated with the frequency of eating general snacks in boys and the money spent on purchasing general snacks in girls. The main reasons for eating PS were ‘health' followed by ‘taste'. The frequencies of general snack eating and those of PS use in mothers were highly associated with the frequencies of eating PS in children. Further, the perceptions on PS in mothers were significantly correlated with the frequencies of PS eating both in boys and in girls, although correlation coefficients were somewhat weak.

Conclusions

Our study showed that mother's snack eating behavior and perceptions can affect their children's PS uses. Our findings suggest that the education toward the mother's eating behavior and nutrition knowledge are important in improving child's eating behavior including reasonable and healthy snack choices.

Keywords: Snacks; Children; Mother

Table 1.

General characteristics of the study subjects^a

Table 2.

Characteristics of premium snack purchasing patterns in children and their mothers^a

Table 3.

The frequency of eating premium snacks (times/day) and associated factors in boys and girls

Table 4.

Association between mother's characteristics and the frequency of eating premium snacks (times/day) in boys and girls

Table 5.

Perceptions on premium snacks in children and their mothers^a

Table 6.

Correlations between perceptions on premium snacks in mothers and the frequency of eating premium snacks in children^a

References

1. Koo JO, Kim JH, Byeon KW, Son JM, Lee JW, Lee JH, et al. Nutrition throughout the life cycle: Chapter 6. Childhood nutrition Seoul: Power Book; 2011. p. 203–4.

2. Lee KW, Lee HS, Lee MJ. A study on the eating behaviors of self-purchasing snack among elementary school students. Korean J Food Culture 2005;20(5):594–602.

3. Gim YA. Effects of Nutrition Education on Snack Intake of Middle Schooler: with Educated Group and Non-Educated Group [dissertation] Jeonju: Chonbuk National University of Education; 2008. Korean.

4. Kang SA, Lee JW, Kim KE, Koo JO, Park DY. A study of the frequency of food purchase for snacking and its related ecological factors on elementary school children. Korean J Community Nutr 2004;9(4):453–63.

5. Kim MJ. The effect of eating habit, life behavior and body image of higher grade elementary school children and parents in child obesity degree. Korean J Physical Growth and Motor Development 2013;21(3):227–35.

6. Hong JH, Oh SG, Chung JY. Relationship of unbalanced diet and eating behavior between school age children and their mothers in Wonju area. Korean J Health Promot 2014;14(1):17–25.

7. Her ES. Interrelations among snack preference, purchasing behaviors and intake in upper grade elementary school students: compared by the gender and TV watching time. Korean J Community Nutr 2013;18(5):429–41.

8. Kim HY, Won BY, Ryu SH. A study on the intake of foods causing dental caries and the effect of nutrition education for primary students. Korean J Soc Food Cookery Sci 2002;18(6):704–15.

9. Lee SS. A study on dietary behavior of children according to the Their Preferences for Fast Food. Korean J Community Nutr 2004;9(2):204–13.

10. Lee ES, Kim DJ. An Exploratory study on the price acceptance of premium confectionery. J Korean Food Service 2012;8(1):7–29.

11. Kim JS, Shin SN, Park HR, Sung SH, Kim JH, Lee JS. Premium brand of Orion Confectionery. Business Education Journal 2011;22:55–71.

12. Myung KS, Lee ME. A study on the cognitive psychology consumer research and purchase of the premium package design. A Journal of Brand Design Association of Korea 2009;7(12):81–91.

13. Choi HS. Consumer research press release vol 32. Consumer Research. 2013. [Accessed June 10, 2014]. http://www.con-sumerresearch.co.kr/news/article.html?no=1667.

14. Cho EA, Lee SK, Heo GJ. Snack consumption behaviors and nutrition knowledge among elementary school students in Siheung-si. Korean J Community Nutr 2010;15(2):169–79.

15. Jo JI, Kim HK. Food habits and eating snack behaviors middle school students in Ulsan area. Korean J Nutr 2008;41(8):797–808.

16. Kim YS, Kim BR. Intake of snacks, and perceptions and use of food and nutrition labels by middle school students in Chuncheon area. J Korean Soc Food Sci Nutr 2012;41(9):1265–73.

17. Lee ES, Kim DJ. An exploratory study on the price acceptance of premium confectionery. J Korean Food Service 2012;8(1):7–29.

18. Ministry of Health and Welfare & Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention. National health and nutrition examination survey report Seoul;2009.

19. Jeong NY, Kim KW. Nutrition knowledge and eating behaviors of elementary school children in Seoul. Korean J Community Nutr 2009;14(1):55–66.

20. Lee JH, Woo JH, Chae HJ, Lee EH, Chyun JH. Study of dietary behaviors and snack intake patterns by weight of middle school students in Incheon. Korean J Food Culture 2010;25(4):366–77.

21. Kim MH, Seo JS, Choi MK, Kim EY. A study on dietary habit and eating snack behaviors of middle school students with different obesity indexes in Chungam area. Korean J Food & Nutr 2012;25(1):105–15.

22. Kim GR, Kim MJ. Differences in snacking behavior and general characteristics of high school students in some areas in Seoul and Kyonggido. Korean J Culinary Res 2013;19(2):11–27.

23. Lee JS, Choi YS, Bae BS. Association between nutritional knowledge and dietary behaviors of middle school children and their mothers. Korean J Nutr 2011;44(2):140–51.

24. Doo MA, Seo JY, Kim YH. Factors to influence consumption pattern of snacks of middle school students in Ilsan area. J Korean Soc Food Sci Nutr 2009;38(12):1732–9.

25. Choi MJ, Lee GD, Kim HN. A food selection of preschool children and their mother's perception of dietary management. J Child Education 2010;19(1):293–306.

26. Han GS, Cho WK. Study of dietary behaviors and snack intake patterns of high school students in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi-do. Korean J Food Culture 2011;26(5):490–500.

27. Kim NY, Lee JS. A study on perception and utilization of food-nutrition labeling by in Busan residents. J Korean Soc Food Sci Nutr 2009;38(12):1801–10.

28. Son SH, Kim KN. Relationship between dietary habits & snack consumption and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among elementary school children in Cheongju Area. J Human Ecology 2011;15(2):59–67.

29. Cheong HS, Choi AK. A study on the dietary status of the elementary school students in Ulsan. J Basic Sciences 2011;28:5–21.

Article information Continued

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Table 1.

General characteristics of the study subjects^a

Variables	Boy (n=337)	Girl (n=292)	Total (n=629)	χ² (P)^b
Variables	N (%)	N (%)	N (%)	χ² (P)^b
Grade
5th	192 (57.0)	172 (58.9)	364 (57.9)	0.239 (0.625)
6th	145 (43.0)	120 (41.1)	265 (42.1)
Obesity
Underweight	113 (34.7)	132 (46.5)	245 (40.2)	15.872 (0.001)
Normal	137 (42.2)	113 (39.7)	250 (41.1)
Overweight	28 (8.6)	22 (7.8)	50 (8.2)
Obese	47 (14.5)	17 (6.0)	64 (10.5)
Number of siblings
0	28 (10.4)	24 (9.2)	52 (9.8)	0.398 (0.820)
1	181 (67.0)	174 (66.4)	355 (66.7)
≥2	61 (22.6)	64 (24.4)	125 (23.5)
Family income, 10,000 Korean Won/mon
<100	11 (4.1)	12 (4.6)	23 (4.4)	6.209 (0.184)
100–200	38 (14.2)	42 (16.3)	80 (15.2)
200–300	54 (20.2)	71 (27.4)	125 (23.7)
300–400	105 (39.2)	91 (35.1)	196 (37.2)
≥500	60 (22.3)	43 (16.6)	103 (19.5)
Mother's age
30–35	8 (3.0)	13 (5.0)	21 (4.0)	3.274 (0.351)
36–40	85 (31.5)	92 (35.1)	177 (33.3)
41–45	134 (49.5)	125 (47.7)	259 (48.6)
≥45	43 (16.0)	32 (12.2)	75 (14.1)
Mother's education
≤Middle/high school	164 (60.7)	153 (58.4)	317 (59.6)	0.303 (0.582)
≥College/university	106 (39.3)	109 (41.6)	215 (40.4)
Mother's employment
Full-time employed	124 (45.9)	131 (50.0)	255 (47.9)	3.543 (0.170)
Part-time employed	31 (11.5)	39 (14.9)	70 (13.2)
None	115 (42.6)	92 (35.1)	207 (38.9)

Some variables have different total numbers due to missing values.

Calculated by chi-square test.

Table 2.

Characteristics of premium snack purchasing patterns in children and their mothers^a

Variables	Boy (n=337)	Boy's mother (n=273)	χ² (P)^b	Girl (n=292)	Girl's mother (n=262)	r χ² (P)^b	Boy vs. girl
Variables	N (%)	N (%)	χ² (P)^b	N (%)	N (%)	r χ² (P)^b	χ² (P)^b
Frequency of purchasing premium snacks
≥1 time/d	24 (7.1)	5 (1.9)	10.988 (0.012)	12 (4.1)	6 (2.3)	8.136 (0.043)	4.204 (0.240)
3∼6 times/wk	19 (5.7)	11 (4.0)		14 (4.8)	6 (2.3)
1∼2 times/wk	52 (15.4)	39 (14.3)		57 (19.5)	36 (13.9)
Rare	242 (71.8)	217 (79.8)		209 (71.6)	212 (81.5)
Reasons for purchasing premium snacks (choose two)
Taste	141 (22.2)	37 (6.8)	118.367 (<0.001)	115 (20.5)	41 (7.8)	66.683 (<0.001)	10.699 (0.058)
Health	201 (31.5)	168 (30.6)		168 (29.9)	150 (28.6)
Nutrition	91 (14.3)	44 (8.1)		71 (12.7)	44 (8.4)
Ingredient	91 (14.3)	137 (25.1)		112 (19.9)	146 (27.9)
Food additives	41 (6.5)	110 (20.2)		48 (8.5)	102 (19.5)
Others	71 (11.2)	50 (9.2)		48 (8.5)	41 (7.8)
Reason for not purchasing premium snacks
Price	179 (55.4)	126 (46.3)	40.621 (<0.001)	170 (59.2)	136 (51.9)	14.746 (0.005)	1.924 (0.750)
Too much advertisement	42 (13.0)	79 (29.0)		34 (11.9)	53 (20.2)
Bad taste	56 (17.4)	15 (5.5)		42 (14.6)	22 (8.4)
Similar nutrient contents	22 (6.8)	23 (8.5)		16 (5.6)	24 (9.2)
Similar ingredients	24 (7.4)	29 (10.7)		25 (8.7)	27 (10.3)

Some variables have different total numbers due to missing values.

Calculated by chi-square test.

Table 3.

The frequency of eating premium snacks (times/day) and associated factors in boys and girls

Variables	Boy			Girl			Total
Variables	N	Mean±SD	F (P)^a	N	Mean±SD	F (P)^a	N	Mean±SD	F (P)^a
Frequency of eating general snacks
≥3 times/d	27	0.40±0.78^b	2.87 (0.023)	26	0.20±0.59	1.27 (0.280)	53	0.30±0.69^b	2.62 (0.034)
2 times/d	76	0.14±0.43^c		69	0.21±0.59		145	0.17±0.51^c
1 time/d	113	0.12±0.30^c		106	0.09±0.20		219	0.11±0.26^c
1–3 times/wk	75	0.16±0.35^c		59	0.10±0.21		134	0.13±0.30^c
Rare	46	0.12±0.27^c		32	0.19±0.55		78	0.15±0.41^c
Money spent on general snacks, Korean Won/d
<500	97	0.15±0.37	2.29 (0.059)	70	0.11±0.39^c	3.40 (0.010)	167	0.14±0.38^c	5.21 (<0.001)
500–1000	161	0.14±0.36		151	0.14±0.40^c		312	0.14±0.38^c
1100–1500	41	0.12±0.36		43	0.13±0.33^c		84	0.13±0.34^c
1600–2000	16	0.10±0.25		19	0.04±0.08^c		35	0.07±0.18^c
>2000	22	0.40±0.76		9	0.61±0.96^b		31	0.46±0.81^b
Ways of getting general snacks
Purchased by oneself	125	0.12±0.32	1.03 (0.359)	119	0.15±0.37	1.27 (0.282)	244	0.13±0.34	1.42 (0.242)
Purchased by parents	140	0.17±0.44		107	0.10±0.32		247	0.14±0.40
Prepared by parents	72	0.20±0.44		66	0.20±0.58		138	0.20±0.51
Person who eat snacks with
Alone	135	0.15±0.39	0.13 (0.878)	98	0.17±0.57	0.97 (0.379)	233	0.16±0.47	0.42 (0.657)
Friends	100	0.17±0.39		86	0.16±0.27		186	0.16±0.34
Family	101	0.16±0.43		108	0.10±0.33		209	0.13±0.38
Obesity
Underweight	113	0.18±0.47	1.21 (0.307)	132	0.11±0.23	1.16 (0.320)	245	0.14±0.36	1.02 (0.385)
Normal	137	0.14±0.30		111	0.20±0.60		248	0.16±0.46
Overweight	28	0.05±0.11		22	0.08±0.22		50	0.06±0.17
Obese	47	0.14±0.26		17	0.09±0.20		64	0.13±0.25
Total^d	337	0.16±0.40		292	0.14±0.40		629	0.15±0.41	–0.80 (0.423)

Calculated by oneway analysis of variance.

cSignificantly different by Duncan's multiple range test.

Some variables have different total numbers due to missing values.

Table 4.

Association between mother's characteristics and the frequency of eating premium snacks (times/day) in boys and girls

Mother's characteristics	Boy (n=273)			Girl (n=262)			Total (n=535)
Mother's characteristics	N	Mean±SD	F (P)^a	N	Mean±SD	F (P)^a	N	Mean±SD	F (P)^a
Age
30–35	8	0.28±0.70	0.85 (0.470)	13	0.12±0.22	2.02 (0.111)	21	0.18±0.46	0.43 (0.733)
36–40	85	0.14±0.29		91	0.13±0.37		177	0.13±0.33
41–45	134	0.16±0.40		125	0.12±0.36		259	0.14±0.39
≥45	43	0.08±0.22		33	0.32±0.75		75	0.19±0.53
Education
≤Middle school	3	0.07±0.12	0.06 (0.983)	6	0.23±0.39	2.28 (0.080)	9	0.18±0.32	1.40 (0.241)
High school	161	0.14±0.39		147	0.09±0.33		308	0.12±0.37
College/university	104	0.15±0.31		105	0.23±0.54		209	0.19±0.44
≥Graduate school	2	0.10±0.14		4	0.00±0.00		6	0.03±0.08
Employment
Full-time employed	124	0.14±0.33	1.14 (0.322)	131	0.14±0.42	0.16 (0.855)	255	0.14±0.38	0.23 (0.797)
Part-time employed	31	0.06±0.12		39	0.18±0.58		70	0.13±0.44
None	115	0.17±0.42		92	0.15±0.38		207	0.16±0.40
Frequency of eating general snacks
≥2 times/d	52	0.17±0.38	0.70 (0.497)	47	0.24±0.64^b	3.09 (0.047)	99	0.20±0.52^b	3.28 (0.038)
1 time/d	120	0.16±0.42		115	0.15±0.40^bc		235	0.16±0.41^bc
≤3 times/wk	101	0.11±0.24		100	0.07±0.16^c		201	0.09±0.21^c
Frequency of purchasing premium snacks
≥1 time/d	5	0.44±0.88	1.31 (0.272)	6	0.78±1.15^bc	6.25 (<0.001)	11	0.63±1.00^b	6.57 (<0.001)
3–6 times/wk	11	0.19±0.31		6	0.28±0.31^c		17	0.22±0.31^c
1–2 times/wk	39	0.12±0.24		36	0.27±0.69^c		75	0.19±0.51^c
Rare	217	0.14±0.36		211	0.11±0.32^c		428	0.12±0.34^c

Calculated by oneway analysis of variance.

Significantly different by Duncan's multiple range test.

Some variables have different total numbers due to missing values.

Table 5.

Perceptions on premium snacks in children and their mothers^a

		Boy (n=273)			Girl (n=262)			Boy vs. Girl
No	Item	Boy	Boy's mother	t (P)^b	Girl	Girl's mother	t (P)^b	t (P)^c
1	I'm interested in purchasing premium snacks	2.90±1.18	3.14±1.08	–2.551 (0.011)	3.11±1.09	3.11±1.03	0.045 (0.964)	–2.17 (0.030)
2	I think premium snacks are healthier than general snacks	3.47±1.20	3.20±0.99	3.179 (0.002)	3.59±1.01	3.18±0.92	5.395 (<0.001)	–1.21 (0.229)
3	I trust the nutrients and ingredients of the premium snacks	3.24±1.16	2.86±0.93	4.703 (<0.001)	3.29±0.99	2.99±0.83	3.976 (<0.001)	–0.54 (0.590)
4	I think that the price of premium snacks are reasonable	2.49±1.06	2.26±0.84	2.931 (0.004)	2.47±0.81	2.35±0.86	1.619 (0.107)	0.26 (0.792)
5	I think premium snacks are delicious	3.18±1.13	2.80±0.82	5.088 (<0.001)	3.30±0.97	2.89±0.76	5.715 (<0.001)	–1.28 (0.201)
6	I think premium snacks contain less food additives	3.09±0.92	3.00±0.93	1.239 (0.216)	3.13±0.78	3.11±0.81	0.114 (0.910)	–0.46 (0.648)
7	I think premium snacks are safer than general snacks	3.34±1.07	3.00±0.87	4.289 (<0.001)	3.36±0.91	3.08±0.80	4.270 (<0.001)	–0.27 (0.787)
8	I prefer premium snacks to general snacks	2.55±1.20	2.54±0.95	0.130 (0.897)	2.56±1.04	2.66±0.98	–1.216 (0.225)	–0.08 (0.939)
	Total^d	24.26±6.70	22.80±5.83	3.127 (0.002)	24.80±5.58	23.37±5.26	3.437 (0.001)	–1.01 (0.312)

Perception scores (1: strongly disagree-5: strongly agree) are presented as means±SD.

Calculated by paired t-test.

Calculated by t-test.

Sum of the perception scores from all eight questions.

Table 6.

Correlations between perceptions on premium snacks in mothers and the frequency of eating premium snacks in children^a

No.	Perceptions in mothers	Boy (n=273)	Girl (n=262)	Total (n=535)
1	I'm interested in purchasing premium snacks	0.071	0.128^b	0.099^b
2	I think premium snacks are healthier than general snacks	0.128^b	0.137^b	0.132^c
3	I trust the nutrients and ingredients of the premium snacks	0.188^c	0.085	0.139^c
4	I think that the price of premium snacks are reasonable	0.114	0.094	0.104^b
5	I think premium snacks are delicious	0.093	0.021	0.058
6	I think premium snacks contain less food additives	0.161^c	0.087	0.126^c
7	I think premium snacks are safer than general snacks	0.167^c	0.069	0.120^c
8	I prefer premium snacks to general snacks	0.113	0.171^c	0.141^c
	Total score^d	0.163^c	0.137^c	0.150^e

Pearson's correlation coefficients (r) between the perception score for premium snacks in mothers (1: strongly disagree-5: strongly agree) and the frequency of eating premium snacks in children (times/day).

P<0.05.

P<0.01.

Sum of the perception scores from all eight questions.

P<0.001.