Table 3.

Summary of the results obtained for each of the outcome parameter during the Kruskal–Wallis H analysis of between-group differences and the Friedman ANOVA and Kendall Coefficient of Concordance analysis of the differences between the three segments of the chewing sequence (beginning, middle, and end) of each of the outcome parameters within each age-group

Outcome parameter	Food	Chewing segment	Between-Group difference1	Within-group difference2
				Primary	Early-mixed	Late-mixed	Early-permanent	Late-permanent	Adults
Chewing cycle (n)	Soft	ــ	NS	NA *	NA	NA	NA	NA	Na*
	Hard	ــ	NS	NA *	NA	NA	NA	NA	Na*
Chewing duration (s)	Soft	ــ	NS	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	Na*
	Hard	ــ	NS	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	Na*
Chewing rate (Hz)	Soft	ــ	NS	NA *	NA	NA	NA	Na*	Na*
	Hard	ــ	p = 0.0419	NA *	NA	NA	NA	Na*	Na*
Vertical amplitude (mm)	Soft	Begin	NS	p = 0.0247	p = 0.0001	p = 0.0273	p = 0.0003	p = 0.0022	p = 0.0007*
		Middle	NS
		End	NS
	Hard	Begin	NS	p = 0.0017	p = 0.0003	p = 0.0202	p = 0.0034	p = 0.00123	p = 0.0007*
		Middle	NS
		End	NS
Lateral amplitude (mm)	Soft	Begin	p = 0.0181	NS	NS	NS	NS	p = 0.0018	p = 0.0273
		Middle	p = 0.0063
		End	p = 0.0267
	Hard	Begin	p = 0.0123	NS	NS	p = 0.0075	NS	p = 0.0075	p = 0.0451
		Middle	p = 0.0046
		End	p = 0.0004
Jaw opening velocity (mm/s)	Soft	Begin	NS	NS*	p = 0.0136	p = 0.0451	p = 0.0082	p = 0.0003*	p = 0.0136*
		Middle	NS
		End	NS
	Hard	Begin	NS	p = 0.0136*	p = 0.0136	p = 0.0451	p = 0.0136	p = 0.0075*	p = 0.0055*
		Middle	NS
		End	NS
Jaw-closing velocity (mm/s)	Soft	Begin	NS	p = 0.0451	p = 0.0012*	p = 0.0075	p = 0.0055	p = 0.0202*	p = 0.0451*
		Middle	NS
		End	NS
	Hard	Begin	NS	p = 0.0006	p = 0.0075*	p = 0.0082	p = 0.0034	p = 0.0004*	p = 0.0082*
		Middle	NS
		End	NS
Occlusal duration (s)	Soft	Begin	NS	NS*	NS*	NS	NS	NS	NS
		Middle	NS
		End	NS
	Hard	Begin	NS	p = 0.0075*	p = 0.0451*	p = 0.0075	NS	NS	NS
		Middle	NS
		End	NS
Opening duration (s)	Soft	Begin	NS	NS*	NS	NS	p = 0.0451	NS	NS
		Middle	NS
		End	NS
	Hard	Begin	p = 0.0149	NS*	NS	NS	NS	p = 0.0202	NS
		Middle	NS
		End	p = 0.0099
Closing duration (s)	Soft	Begin	NS	NS	NS	p = 0.0451	NS	NS	p = 0.0247
		Middle	NS
		End	NS
	Hard	Begin	NS	NS	NS	p = 0.0012	NS	NS	NS
		Middle	NS
		End	NS
EMG activity (closing phase)	Soft	Begin	p = 0.0474	NS	p = 0.0001	p = 0.0001	p = 0.0001	p = 0.0001*	p = 0.0001*
		Middle	p = 0.0232
		End	p = 0.0110
	Hard	Begin	p = 0.0168	NS	p = 0.0001	p = 0.0001	p = 0.0001	p = 0.0002*	p = 0.0001*
		Middle	p = 0.0075
		End	p = 0.0054
EMG activity (occlusal phase)	Soft	Begin	p = 0.0202	NS	p = 0.0001	p = 0.0001	p = 0.0007	p = 0.0001*	p = 0.0001*
		Middle	p = 0.0309
		End	p = 0.0241
	Hard	Begin	p = 0.0049	NS	p = 0.0001	p = 0.0001	p = 0.0001	p = 0.0012*	p = 0.0001*
		Middle	p = 0.0039
		End	p = 0.0108

(1) Between-group differences were analyzed with Kruskal–Wallis H test with pairwise post hoc comparison using Dunn-Bonferroni correction. (2) Friedman ANOVA and Kendall Coefficient of Concordance test were used to analyze within age-group differences of the three segments of the chewing sequence (beginning, middle, and end) of each of the outcome parameter. Wilcoxon Matched Pairs Test was used to analyze the within-group differences between the soft and hard viscoelastic food at the beginning of the chewing sequence; significant results indicated by asterisk (*) placed on both the two types of food. The significance level was set at 0.05 for all the statistical tests. NS indicates a p value > 0.05 and (NA) indicates no applicable within-group difference in the outcome variable with the chewing progression