Table 2.
Participant characteristics—diet trajectories, demographic, socioeconomic, and behavioural characteristics based on early childhood caries (ECC) groups (n = 718).
| Characteristics | ECC − ve a (n = 479) |
ECC + ve b (n = 239) |
|---|---|---|
| Diet trajectories | ||
| Sugary foods | ||
| Lowest (Low and gradual rising) | 219 (67.80%) | 104 (32.20%) |
| Medium (Moderate and stable) | 194 (65.54%) | 102 (34.46%) |
| Highest (High and late declining) | 66 (66.67%) | 33 (33.33%) |
| Demographic factors | ||
| Child age (in years) Mean ± SD | 3.56 ± 0.25 | 3.59 ± 0.25 |
| Child gender | ||
| Male | 248 (66.67%) | 124 (33.33%) |
| Female | 231 (66.76%) | 115 (33.24%) |
| Maternal age (in years) Mean ±SD | 31.54 ± 5.09 | 31 ± 5.49 |
| Maternal marital status | ||
| Married | 442 (66.77%) | 220 (33.23%) |
| Single | 37 (66.07%) | 19 (33.93%) |
| Number of children in household | ||
| 1 | 257 (71.59%) | 102 (28.41%) |
| 2 | 146 (64.60%) | 80 (35.40%) |
| ≥3 | 76 (57.14%) | 57 (42.86%) |
| Individual-level socioeconomic status | ||
| Maternal education | ||
| University | 223 (69.25%) | 99 (30.57%) |
| College/TAFE | 97 (75.78%) | 31 (24.22%) |
| Completed 12 | 94 (62.67%) | 56 (37.33%) |
| Left school < 12 | 65 (55.08%) | 53 (44.92%) |
| Maternal work status | ||
| Not working | 233 (62.47%) | 140 (37.53%) |
| Working | 226 (72.20%) | 87 (27.80%) |
| Area-level socioeconomic status | ||
| Index of relative socioeconomic advantage and disadvantage | ||
| Deciles 9–10 | 122 (78.21%) | 34 (21.79%) |
| Deciles 7–8 | 88 (69.84%) | 38 (30.16%) |
| Deciles 5–6 | 16 (76.19%) | 5 (23.81%) |
| Deciles 3–4 | 116 (65.91%) | 60 (34.09%) |
| Deciles 1–2 | 137 (57.32%) | 102 (42.68%) |
| Behavioural factors | ||
| Breastfeeding duration | ||
| <17 weeks | 176 (66.17%) | 90 (33.83%) |
| 17–25 weeks | 54 (71.05%) | 22 (28.95%) |
| 26–51 weeks | 129 (72.88%) | 48 (27.12%) |
| ≥52 weeks | 119 (60.10%) | 79 (39.90%) |
| Maternal smoking during pregnancy | ||
| No | 453 (66.42%) | 229 (33.58%) |
| Yes | 26 (72.22%) | 10 (27.78%) |
a,b The total of the categories might not always add up to 718 due to missing or incomplete data for some items. Index of relative socioeconomic advantage and disadvantage: deciles 9–10 = least disadvantaged; deciles 7–8 = low disadvantaged; deciles 5–6 = moderately disadvantaged; deciles 3–4 = highly disadvantaged; deciles 1–2 = most disadvantaged. SD: standard deviation. n: sample size. ECC: early childhood caries.