engleski

Socioeconomic differences in food habits among 6- to 9-year-old children from 23 countries—WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI 2015/2017)

Background: Socioeconomic differences in children's food habits are a key public health concern. In order to inform policy makers, cross- country surveillance studies of dietary patterns across socioeconomic groups are required. The purpose of this study was to examine associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and children's food habits. Methods: The study was based on nationally representative data from children aged 6–9 years (n = 129, 164) in 23 countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region. Multivariate multilevel analyses were used to explore associations between children's food habits (consumption of fruit, vegetables, and sugar- containing soft drinks) and parental education, perceived family wealth and parental employment status. Results: Overall, the present study suggests that unhealthy food habits are associ- ated with lower SES, particularly as assessed by parental education and family per- ceived wealth, but not parental employment status. We found cross-national and regional variation in associations between SES and food habits and differences in the extent to which the respective indicators of SES were related to children's diet.

children ; food haits ; social inequalities ; socioeconomic differences

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