Table 1.
Baseline characteristics (mean and standard deviation unless otherwise stated) of the participating pre-school children and their parents/caregivers per treatment arm. The ToyBox-study, May/June 2012
| Intervention group (n 3360) | Control group (n 1852) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | sd | Mean | sd | |
| Demographics | ||||
| Age, child (years) | 4·7 | 0·43 | 4·7 | 0·45 |
| Sex (% female) | 48·5 | 48·8 | ||
| Age, parent (years) | 35·7 | 5·0 | 35·6 | 4·8 |
| Maternal education (% with maternal education >14 years) | 60·0 | 63·1* | ||
| Behaviours | ||||
| Unhealthy snack consumption, child (g/d) | 85·2 | 52·3 | 83·5 | 47·8 |
| F&V consumption, child (g/d) | 240·3 | 134·2 | 241·6 | 131·3 |
| Determinants of healthy snacking | ||||
| Child’s F&V preference (−2, +2) | 0·85 | 1·06 | 0·88 | 1·01 |
| Availability of F&V as snacks (−2, +2) | 1·01 | 0·89 | 1·03 | 0·88 |
| Regular availability of F&V (−2, +2) | 1·18 | 0·77 | 1·15 | 0·83 |
| Parental rule: allowed to eat F&V as snacks without asking (−2, +2) | 0·56 | 1·18 | 0·50 | 1·16 |
| Parental knowledge on F&V recommendation (% indicating correct recommendation, i.e. 5 portions or ~400 g daily) | 19·0 | 19·0 | ||
| F&V consumption, parent (portions/d) | 2·12 | 2·32 | 1·99* | 2·17 |
| Determinants of unhealthy snacking | ||||
| I think eating sweet or salty snacks is not bad for my child (−2, +2) | −0·46 | 1·24 | −0·41 | 1·26 |
| I make sweet or salty snacks regularly available for my child (−2, +2) | −0·81 | 0·97 | −0·84 | 0·97 |
| My child is not allowed to snack while watching television (−2, +2) | −0·09 | 1·11 | −0·02 | 1·11 |
| My child is allowed to eat sweet or salty snacks only at certain occasions, i.e. birthdays (−2, +2) | −0·12 | 1·05 | −0·09 | 1·05 |
| I give sweet or salty snacks to my child as a reward or to comfort him (−2, +2) | −0·79 | 1·07 | −0·82 | 1·06 |
| If I prohibit my child to eat a sweet or salty snack I find it difficult to stick to my rules if he/she starts nagging (−2, +2) | −0·86 | 1·04 | −0·95* | 0·97 |
| I find it difficult to restrain myself from eating sweet or salty snacks because of the presence of my child (−2, +2) | −0·70 | 1·14 | −0·73 | 1·13 |
| Parental knowledge on unhealthy snack recommendation (% indicating correct recommendation, i.e. none) | 51·6 | 50·4 | ||
| Unhealthy snack consumption parent (portions/d) | 0·26 | 0·29 | 0·25 | 0·25 |
F&V, fruit(s) and vegetable(s).
*Significant difference between intervention and control groups based on independent t test for continuous variables or χ 2 test for dichotomous variables: P<0·05.