Table 2.
Chosen eating habits, by level of food neophobia, among pre-school children aged 2·5–7 years (n 325) from ten kindergartens located in or near Cracow, southern Poland, 2012–2013
| Level of food neophobia (%) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chosen eating habit | Total (%) (n 325) | Low (L) (n 35) | Medium (M) (n 250) | High (H) (n 40) | P |
| No. of meals eaten daily | |||||
| ≤3 | 24·7 | 28·6 | 21·3 | 44·4 | L-M=0·250 |
| 4 | 37·4 | 33·3 | 38·0 | 38·1 | M-H=0·402 |
| 5 | 34·2 | 38·1 | 37·2 | 17,5 | L-H=0·008 |
| ≥6 | 3·7 | – | 3·5 | 4·8 | |
| Regularity of meals | |||||
| Definitely no | 2·5 | 2·5 | 2·4 | 2·9 | L-M=0·303 |
| Rather no | 21·1 | 25·0 | 19·4 | 28·6 | M-H=0·074 |
| Rather yes | 65·9 | 65·0 | 66·1 | 65·7 | L-H=0·534 |
| Definitely yes | 10·5 | 7·5 | 12·1 | 2·8 | |
| Child’s snack consumption | |||||
| Never | 0·6 | – | 0·8 | – | L-M=0·645 |
| Occasionally | 36·1 | 45·0 | 36·5 | 22·9 | M-H=0·107 |
| 1–2 times/week | 13·3 | 7·5 | 13·7 | 17·1 | L-H=0·005 |
| Almost every day | 42·3 | 40·0 | 41·8 | 48·6 | |
| 2–3 times/d | 7·7 | 7·5 | 7·2 | 11·4 | |
| Watching television while eating meals | |||||
| Never | 5·5 | 12·5 | 4·8 | 2·9 | L-M=0·939 |
| Almost never | 25·5 | 17·5 | 26·4 | 28·6 | M-H=0·367 |
| Sometimes | 46·2 | 45·0 | 47·6 | 37·1 | L-M=0·499 |
| Almost always | 20·6 | 25·0 | 19·6 | 22·9 | |
| Always | 2·2 | – | 1·6 | 8·5 | |
| Child’s fast-food consumption | |||||
| Never | 13·3 | 12·5 | 13·3 | 14·3 | L-M=0·716 |
| ≤1 time/month | 59·1 | 56·5 | 61·7 | 42·9 | M-H=0·105 |
| 2–3 times/month | 21·7 | 30·0 | 19·0 | 31·4 | L-H=0·275 |
| Once/week | 5·3 | – | 5·2 | 11·4 | |
| More than once/week | 0·6 | – | 0·8 | -- | |
P value for difference between food neophobia groups, (Wilcoxon’s test); significant results (P<0·05) shown in bold.