Table 1.
Characteristics of the study sample of nationally representative Irish children aged 5–12 years and their parents, National Children’s Food Survey (2003–2004)
| Total sample (n 594) | 5–8-year-olds (n 296) | 9–12-year-olds (n 298) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n or Mean | % or sd | n or Mean | % or sd | n or Mean | % or sd | |
| Child characteristics | ||||||
| Gender | ||||||
| Male | 301 | 50·7 | 145 | 49·0 | 148 | 49·7 |
| Female | 293 | 49·3 | 151 | 51·0 | 150 | 50·3 |
| Duration of breast-feeding | ||||||
| Never | 324 | 55·5 | 166 | 56·8 | 158 | 54·2 |
| Breast-fed for 1–24 weeks | 177 | 30·3 | 84 | 28·8 | 93 | 31·8 |
| Breast-fed for >24 weeks | 83 | 14·2 | 42 | 14·4 | 41 | 14·0 |
| BMI† | ||||||
| Normal weight | 436 | 73·4 | 215 | 72·6 | 221 | 74·2 |
| Overweight | 112 | 18·9 | 58 | 19·6 | 54 | 18·1 |
| Obese | 46 | 7·7 | 23 | 7·8 | 23 | 7·7 |
| Maternal characteristics | ||||||
| Age (years), mean and sd | 40·51 | 5·90 | 38·29 | 5·69 | 42·74 | 5·24 |
| BMI‡ | ||||||
| Normal weight | 285 | 51·4 | 140 | 52·6 | 145 | 50·3 |
| Overweight | 186 | 33·6 | 89 | 33·5 | 97 | 33·7 |
| Obese | 83 | 15·0 | 37 | 13·9 | 46 | 16·0 |
| Marital status | ||||||
| Married | 538 | 91·3 | 269 | 91·5 | 269 | 91·2 |
| Not married | 51 | 8·7 | 25 | 8·5 | 26 | 8·8 |
| Social class | ||||||
| Professional/managerial | 307 | 52·5 | 148 | 50·0 | 159 | 54·3 |
| Non-manual skilled | 117 | 20·0 | 53 | 17·9 | 64 | 21·8 |
| Skilled manual | 93 | 15·9 | 52 | 17·6 | 41 | 14·0 |
| Semi-skilled & unskilled | 68 | 11·6 | 39 | 13·2 | 29 | 9·9 |
Values presented are n and %, unless specified otherwise.
†
International Obesity Task Force age- and sex-specific BMI cut-offs for defining weight status in children aged 2–18 years.
‡
Weight status determined using WHO standards: normal weight, BMI<25·0 kg/m2; overweight, BMI=25·0–29·9 kg/m2; obese, BMI≥30·0 kg/m2.