. 2016 Feb 26;19(9):1635–1644. doi: 10.1017/S1368980016000069

Table 2.

Eating frequency, meal frequency and snack frequency according to categories of participants’ characteristics: US children and adolescents, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003–2012^*

	Children aged 6–11 years (n 4269)							Adolescents aged 12–19 years (n 6193)
		EF (times/d)		MF_self-report (times/d)^†		SF_self-report (times/d)^†			EF (times/d)		MF_self-report (times/d)^†		SF_self-report (times/d)^†
	n	Mean	se	Mean	se	Mean	se	n	Mean	se	Mean	se	Mean	se
Sex
Boys	2112	4·83	0·04	2·89	0·02	1·94	0·04	3162	4·20	0·04	2·57	0·02	1·63	0·04
Girls	2157	4·70	0·04	2·86	0·02	1·83	0·03	3031	4·06	0·04	2·52	0·02	1·54	0·03
P ^‡		0·013		0·14		0·03			0·012		0·05		0·05
Race/ethnicity
Non-Hispanic white	1269	4·85	0·04	2·89	0·02	1·96	0·04	1774	4·18	0·04	2·59	0·02	1·60	0·04
Non-Hispanic black	1137	4·37	0·04	2·75	0·03	1·62	0·04	1932	3·86	0·05	2·33	0·03	1·53	0·04
Mexican American	1164	4·77	0·05	2·96	0·03	1·81	0·04	1662	4·10	0·05	2·58	0·03	1·51	0·04
Others	699	4·81	0·07	2·89	0·02	1·92	0·07	825	4·22	0·07	2·54	0·04	1·68	0·06
P ^‡		<0·0001		<0·0001		<0·0001			<0·0001		<0·0001		0·10
Family poverty income ratio
<130 %	1855	4·69	0·05	2·87	0·02	1·82	0·04	2513	4·06	0·04	2·50	0·03	1·56	0·03
130–349 %	1512	4·76	0·06	2·87	0·03	1·89	0·05	2259	4·04	0·04	2·50	0·02	1·55	0·04
≥350 %	902	4·85	0·05	2·89	0·02	1·96	0·06	1421	4·28	0·05	2·64	0·02	1·65	0·05
P ^‡		0·08		0·60		0·12			<0·0001		<0·0001		0·10
Education of household head
<12 years	1207	4·61	0·05	2·81	0·03	1·80	0·05	1871	4·09	0·05	2·51	0·03	1·58	0·04
12 years	1035	4·76	0·06	2·83	0·03	1·93	0·05	1435	4·00	0·05	2·48	0·03	1·52	0·05
Some college	1196	4·83	0·05	2·90	0·02	1·93	0·05	1831	4·15	0·04	2·52	0·02	1·63	0·04
College degree or more	831	4·81	0·06	2·93	0·02	1·88	0·05	1056	4·26	0·07	2·67	0·03	1·59	0·06
P ^‡		0·011		0·002		0·21			0·011		<0·0001		0·49
Household size
≤2	155	4·86	0·12	2·88	0·04	1·99	0·11	495	3·93	0·08	2·38	0·05	1·56	0·07
3–4	1825	4·75	0·04	2·86	0·02	1·89	0·04	2831	4·16	0·04	2·58	0·02	1·59	0·04
≥5	2289	4·77	0·04	2·89	0·01	1·88	0·04	2867	4·13	0·04	2·54	0·02	1·59	0·04
P ^‡		0·64		0·57		0·69			0·03		0·004		0·90
Physical activity^§
Low	714	4·73	0·08	2·82	0·02	1·91	0·07	972	3·86	0·05	2·40	0·04	1·46	0·04
Moderate	989	4·69	0·05	2·90	0·02	1·79	0·05	2514	4·07	0·03	2·56	0·02	1·51	0·03
Active	2566	4·80	0·03	2·88	0·02	1·92	0·04	2707	4·28	0·04	2·58	0·02	1·69	0·04
P ^‡		0·15		0·02		0·08			<0·0001		0·0006		<0·0001
Watching television and computer use
<2 h/d	1108	4·70	0·06	2·93	0·02	1·78	0·05	1097	4·19	0·07	2·57	0·03	1·62	0·06
≥2 to <4 h/d	1792	4·79	0·05	2·89	0·02	1·90	0·05	1627	4·19	0·05	2·57	0·03	1·62	0·05
≥4 to <6 h/d	843	4·80	0·06	2·84	0·03	1·97	0·05	1339	4·20	0·06	2·51	0·03	1·69	0·05
≥6 h/d	526	4·75	0·09	2·77	0·04	1·99	0·08	2130	4·03	0·04	2·54	0·02	1·49	0·04
P ^‡		0·52		0·005		0·06			0·008		0·18		0·0095
Weight status^\|\|
Underweight	122	4·76	0·12	3·00	0·05	1·76	0·13	201	4·52	0·13	2·72	0·06	1·79	0·11
Normal	2595	4·81	0·04	2·91	0·01	1·90	0·03	3699	4·25	0·03	2·58	0·02	1·67	0·03
Overweight	684	4·68	0·07	2·78	0·03	1·90	0·06	1017	3·88	0·07	2·48	0·03	1·40	0·06
Obese	868	4·67	0·05	2·82	0·03	1·86	0·05	1276	3·87	0·05	2·46	0·03	1·41	0·04
P ^‡		0·08		<0·0001		0·63			<0·0001		<0·0001		<0·0001
Dietary reporting status^¶
Under-reporting	447	3·90	0·07	2·50	0·05	1·40	0·05	2115	3·54	0·04	2·37	0·03	1·18	0·03
Acceptable reporting	3425	4·77	0·03	2·90	0·01	1·86	0·03	3752	4·36	0·03	2·62	0·02	1·74	0·03
Over-reporting	397	5·53	0·10	2·99	0·03	2·54	0·09	326	5·10	0·14	2·72	0·08	2·38	0·15
P ^‡		<0·0001		<0·0001		<0·0001			<0·0001		<0·0001		<0·0001
Survey cycle
2003–2004	775	4·82	0·06	2·80	0·03	2·02	0·05	1758	4·22	0·07	2·47	0·04	1·75	0·06
2005–2006	873	4·76	0·06	2·86	0·04	1·90	0·07	1716	4·19	0·06	2·53	0·03	1·66	0·06
2007–2008	813	4·74	0·06	2·92	0·02	1·83	0·05	857	4·07	0·07	2·53	0·03	1·55	0·07
2009–2010	867	4·73	0·05	2·88	0·02	1·85	0·04	944	4·09	0·06	2·59	0·02	1·50	0·05
2011–2012	941	4·76	0·08	2·92	0·02	1·84	0·09	918	4·08	0·06	2·61	0·03	1·46	0·06
P ^‡		0·85		0·03		0·09			0·44		0·009		0·006

EF, eating frequency; MF_self-report, meal frequency determined based on self-report; SF_self-report, snack frequency determined based on self-report.

Analyses are based on participants with complete data on two 24 h dietary recalls as well as complete information on the variables of interest. All dietary variables are based on mean values of two 24 h dietary recalls.

^†

Self-reports of breakfast, brunch, lunch, supper and dinner or their equivalents in Spanish were considered as meals; all other self-reported eating events were considered as snacks.

^‡

Based on Wald’s F test.

^§

The physical activity variable was created as follows. For children aged 6–11 years, the response to the question on the number of times per week that play or exercise was hard enough to induce sweat in the past 7 d (NHANES 2009–2012) or without a specified period (NHANES 2003–2008): 0–3 times=low; 4–6 times=moderate; and 7 times=active. For adolescents aged 12–19 years, the responses to two different questions on any leisure-time moderate or vigorous activities lasting ≥10 min in the past 30 d (NHANES 2003–2006) or without a specified period (NHANES 2007–2012): no to both two questions=low; yes to one question=moderate; and yes to both two questions=active.

^||

Defined based on the percentile of BMI-for-age⁽ ⁵⁰ ⁾: <5th percentile for underweight; ≥5th to <85th percentile for normal; ≥85th to <95th percentile for overweight; and ≥95th percentile for obese.

^¶

Defined based on ratio of reported energy intake to estimated energy requirement: <0·69 for under-reporting; 0·69–1·46 for acceptable reporting; and >1·46 for over-reporting.