Małgorzata Płonka
Public Health and Governance, Volume 10, Issue 3, 2012, pp. 219-224
https://doi.org/10.4467/20842627OZ.13.023.1171The goal of this study is to evaluate the relationship between the time spent in front of a computer or TV and eating habits in kindergarten children.
The study was conducted in May and September 2012 in two kindergartens in Krakow (n=61) and in a kindergarten in Podłęże, a village near Krakow (n=34). The average age of the studied children was 5.02±1.17. 40 parents of boys and 55 parents of girls took part in the study. The differences in responses related to gender and place of living were checked. The analyses of correlations among particular factors, including BMI, were conducted by means of the Spearman rank.
Most of the kindergarten children (60%) spent an hour or less in front of TV. No relation between the time spent in front of TV or computer and gender or place of living or BMI interpretation was noticed. The time devoted to watching TV was connected with the frequency of snacks and fast-food consumption. The higher the education of mothers the less frequently children eat in front of TV. The frequency of sweetened beverages was also linked with the time spent in front of a computer.
The relation between time spent in front of TV or computer and frequency of high energy food consumption among children was confirmed in the study. An effort should be made to educate parents about probable increased risk of children’s obesity connected with watching media advertising.