Table 1.

Characteristics of participants.

Characteristics		n	%	Mean	SD
Children
Age (n = 332)				4.4	0.81
Gender (n = 329)	Female	164	49.8
	Male	165	50.2
Child z-BMI-age (n = 204)				0.74	0.92
Breastfeeding (n = 331)	Ever breastfed	220	66.3
	Breastfed exclusively
	<6 months	205	70.9
	≥6months	84	29.1
	Never breastfed	111	33.7
Introduction of complementary foods (n = 317)	<17 weeks	80	25.2
	≥17weeks	237	74.8
Attending pre-school (n = 330)	Full-time	120	36.4
	Part-time	210	63.6
Fruit intake (n = 332)	≥1 serving a day	235	70.8
	<1 serving a day	97	29.2
Vegetable intake (n = 332)	≥1 serving a day	129	38.9
	<1 serving a day	203	61.1
Confectionary/ SSB intake (n = 332)	≥1 time per week	241	72.6
	≥time per week	91	27.4
Parents
Age (n = 332)	20–29 years	40	12
	30–39 years	211	63.6
	40 or more years	81	24.4
Relationship with child (n = 332)	Mother	293	88.3
	Father	33	9.9
	Other	6	1.8
Nationality (n = 332)	Irish	222	66.9
Marital status (n = 332)	Married/living together	270	81.3
Education level1 (n = 332)	Higher	188	56.6
	Lower	144	43.4
Household income (n = 263)	<40.000 €/p.a.	86	32.7
	≥40.000 €/p.a.	177	67.3
Parents’ BMI (n = 302)	Normal weight	187	61.9
	Overweight/obese	115	38.1
Fruit intake (n = 332)	≥3 servings a day	77	23.2
	<3 servings a day	255	76.8
Vegetable intake (n = 332)	≥3 servings a day	109	32.8
	<3 servings a day	223	67.2
Confectionary/savory snack intake (n = 332)	≥3 times per week	159	47.9
	<3 times per week	173	52.1
SSB intake (n = 332)	≥1 time per week	77	23.2
	<1 time per week	255	76.8

BMI: Body mass index, SD: Standard deviation, SSB: Sugar-sweetened beverage. p.a.: per annum. ¹ Higher education includes undergraduate and post-graduate education, lower education is secondary school or less, further education covers education and training that occurs after second level schooling, but which is not part of the third level system.