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Kang, Lee, UM, and Kye: Children's Food Intake and Nutrition Levels, and Obesity by Maternal Employment: Based on the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2013–2015
Research Article

Korean Journal of Community Nutrition 2019; 24(4): 331-342.

Published online: 31 August 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2019.24.4.331

Children's Food Intake and Nutrition Levels, and Obesity by Maternal Employment: Based on the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2013–2015

Geunyeong Kang1, Yoonna Lee2, Mihyang UM3, Seunghee Kye3

1Seongnam Center for Children's Foodservice Management, Seongnam, Korea, Planning and Operation Team leader.

2Department of food and Nutrition, Shingu College, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Korea, Professor.

3Nutrition Education Major, Graduate School of Education, Gachon University, Seongnam, Korea, professor.

Corresponding author: Seunghee Kye. Nutrition Education Major, Graduate School of Education, Gachon University, 1342, Seongnamdaero, Sugeong-gu, Seongam-si Gyeonggi-do, 13120, Korea. Tel: (031) 750-5507, Fax: (031) 750-8683, shkye@gachon.ac.kr

Received 2 July 2019       Revised 6 August 2019       Accepted 7 August 2019

Copyright © 2019 The Korean Society of Community Nutrition

The Korean Society of Community Nutrition

(open-access):

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Objectives

This study examines the intake of food and nutrients of children according to the employment and working hours of their mothers.

Methods

The married women in the source data from the 6th National Health and Nutrition Survey were classified into full-time working mothers, part-time working mothers and housewives according to the working type and the data on their children from 3 to 18 years old were analyzed using SAS 9.4.

Results

The group from 3 to 5 years old was the smallest group with 682 children (20.2%), followed by the group from 6 to 11 years with 1,345 children (39.8%) and the group from 12 to 18 years old with 1,355 children (40.1%). The lowest rates for having no breakfast and dinner were observed in the group with housewives (p<0.05). The calcium and phosphorous intakes were the highest in the group with housewives at 61.9% and 126.8%, respectively, and the lowest in the group with full-time working mothers at 54.7% and 115.3%, respectively (p<0.05). The group with full-time working mothers had the highest rate in the calcium and iron intake less than the dietary reference intake at 74.9% and 30.0%, respectively. It indicated that the group with full-time working mothers did not have sufficient nutrients as compared to the other two groups. Moreover, the group with the part-time working mothers showed the high vitamin A intake ratio of 41.4% (p<0.05).

Conclusions

This study found evidence of a negative association between mother's employment status and children's diet quality. The employment and economic activity of married women will continuously increase in the future. Therefore, a national nutrition policy is required to provide quality nutrition care for children in the households.

Keywords: National Health and Nutrition Survey, working mothers, children, nutritional status

Figures and Tables

Table 1

General characteristics of children by maternal employment status

kjcn-24-331-i001

1) N (%), Data was presented as number of subjects and weighted percentage.

P-values from Chi-squared test

2) Mean ± SD, P-values from ANOVA test

Table 2

Percentages of children skipping breakfast by maternal employment status

kjcn-24-331-i002

1) N (%), Data was presented as number of subjects and weighted percentage.

P-values from Chi-squared test

Table 3

Total daily food, energy, and three major nutrient intake of children by maternal employment status

kjcn-24-331-i003

1) Mean ± SE, P-values from ANOVA test after adjusting for for gender, age, household income.

2) Post-hoc analysis was performed by Bonferroni method for the adjusted mean of each variable.

Table 4

Nutrient intake as a percentage of KDRIs and MAR of children by maternal employment status

kjcn-24-331-i004

1) Mean ± SE, P-values from ANOVA test

2) Post-hoc analysis was performed by Bonferroni method for the adjusted mean of each variable

3) MAR: Mean Nutrient Adequacy Ratio

Table 5

Percentages of children consuming less than 75% of EER and below EAR by maternal employment status

kjcn-24-331-i005

1) 75% of EER(Estimated Energy Requirement)

2) below EAR(Estimated Average Requirements)

3) % ± SE, P-values from Chi-squared test

Table 6

Comparison of weight status among children by maternal employment status

kjcn-24-331-i006

1) Weight status was defined as follows; Obese: ≥ 95th percentile, Overweight: 85~94th percentile, Normal: 5~84th percentile, based on reference data.

2) % ± SE, P-values from Chi-squared test

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ORCID iDs

Geunyeong Kang
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3545-3451

Yoonna Lee
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2302-3646

Mihyang UM
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0700-1001

Seunghee Kye
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1308-9705

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