Table 1.
Socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics, eating habits and anthropometric measurements of a nationally representative sample of Lebanese adolescents (Mean values and standard deviations for continuous variables; absolute and relative frequencies for categorical variables; n 446)
| Total | Boys (n 226) | Girls (n 220) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | sd | Mean | sd | Mean | sd | Significance* | |
| Socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics | |||||||
| Age (years) | 16·41 | 1·94 | 16·54 | 2·01 | 16·27 | 1·85 | P>0·05 |
| Crowding index† | 1·46 | 0·72 | 1·41 | 0·70 | 1·52 | 0·74 | P>0·05 |
| Current schooling level (%) | χ 2=1·66, P>0·05 | ||||||
| Elementary and middle | 180 | 40·4 | 86 | 38·1 | 94 | 42·9 | |
| High school and vocational | 217 | 48·8 | 117 | 51·8 | 100 | 45·7 | |
| University | 48 | 10·8 | 23 | 10·2 | 25 | 11·4 | |
| Mother’s educational level (%) | χ 2=2·08, P>0·05 | ||||||
| Illiterate and elementary | 253 | 59·0 | 120 | 55·81 | 133 | 62·1 | |
| Middle and high school | 106 | 24·7 | 59 | 27·4 | 47 | 22·0 | |
| University | 70 | 16·3 | 36 | 16·7 | 34 | 15·9 | |
| Working status of the mother (%) | χ 2=1·31, P>0·05 | ||||||
| No | 309 | 69·3 | 151 | 66·8 | 158 | 71·8 | |
| Yes | 137 | 30·7 | 75 | 33·2 | 62 | 28·2 | |
| Parental obesity (%) | χ 2=1·56, P>0·05 | ||||||
| No | 223 | 73·6 | 99 | 70·2 | 124 | 76·5 | |
| Yes | 80 | 26·4 | 42 | 29·8 | 38 | 23·5 | |
| Smoking status (%) | χ 2=13·83, P<0·05 | ||||||
| No | 413 | 92·6 | 199 | 88·1 | 214 | 97·3 | |
| Yes | 33 | 7·4 | 27 | 11·9 | 6 | 2·7 | |
| Physical activity (%) | χ 2=14·53, P<0·05 | ||||||
| Low | 172 | 42·8 | 72 | 35 | 100 | 51 | |
| Medium | 109 | 27·1 | 56 | 27·2 | 53 | 27 | |
| High | 121 | 30·1 | 78 | 37·9 | 43 | 21·9 | |
| Eating habits | |||||||
| Breakfast frequency per week | 5·47 | 2·40 | 5·74 | 2·26 | 5·18 | 2·51 | P<0·05 |
| Snacking frequency per day | 2·10 | 1·13 | 2·18 | 1·24 | 2·02 | 1·01 | P>0·05 |
| Frequency of eating while watching TV per week | 4·13 | 3·1 | 4·05 | 3·19 | 4·20 | 3·02 | P>0·05 |
| Frequency of eating out per week | 2·19 | 1·72 | 2·63 | 2 | 1·76 | 1·23 | P<0·05 |
| Anthropometric measurements | |||||||
| BMI (kg/m2) | 22·73 | 4·34 | 23·44 | 4·77 | 22·0 | 3·71 | χ 2=17·03, P<0·05 |
| Normal (BMI z-score<1) | 307 | 68·8 | 139 | 61·5 | 168 | 76·4 | |
| Overweight (BMI z-score≥1) | 139 | 31·2 | 87 | 38·5 | 52 | 23·6 | |
| Obese (BMI z-score≥2) | 44 | 9·9 | 34 | 15·0 | 10 | 4·5 | |
TV, television.
*
P value was derived from the χ 2 test for categorical variables and from the independent Student’s t test for continuous variables.
†
Crowding index was defined as the average number of people per room, excluding the kitchen and bathroom.