Skip to main content

Table 6 Relationships between the nutritional home environment and children's intake of non-core foods (n = 272) (ANOVA used for categorical variables and Pearson correlation for continuous variables).

From: Relationships between the home environment and physical activity and dietary patterns of preschool children: a cross-sectional study

Descriptive Construct

Nutritional Home Environment Item

Children's Dietary Patterns Mean Non-core Foods score (range = 2–43)

p value

  

Frequently

Sometimes

Occasionally

Rarely/Never

 

Parental behaviours associated with food

Give child food 'treats'

19.7a

21.4a

19.0a

17.1a

0.03

 

Other carers give child food 'treats'

19.1a

23.4b

19.5a

18.1a

0.001

 

Offer food rewards/incentives to eat main meals

19.4ab

22.1a

19.7ab

18.6b

0.04

 

Restrict fruit juice

17.7a

21.9b

19.3ab

20.8b

0.007

 

Restrict high fat/sugar snack foods

18.3a

21.5b

22.7b

20.2ab

0.003

 

Restrict carbonated drink/cordial

18.3a

23.4b

21.5ab

18.5a

<0.001

 

Snacks allowed to be eaten in front of TV

22.0a

19.9ab

18.2b

17.7b

0.006

 

Other meals allowed to be eaten in front of TV

21.1a

19.7ab

22.1a

17.5b

0.002

 

Child helps prepare food

18.1a

19.7a

18.8ab

23.5b

0.004

Availability of food in home

Take-away food purchased

21.5a

20.5a

20.2a

15.5b

0.005

  

0–99 grams

100–299 grams

300–699 grams

≥700 grams

 
 

Amount of chips, snack savoury biscuits, salted nuts in home

17.5a

19.1ab

19.8ab

21.7b

0.01

  

0–119 grams

120–399 grams

400–799 grams

≥800 grams

 
 

Amount of lollies, sweets, chocolates in home

18.0a

18.6ac

22.3bc

22.8b

<0.001

  

0 boxes

0.5 boxes

1–2 boxes

>2 boxes

 
 

Amount of muesli bars/breakfast bars in home

17.4a

19.7ab

21.6b

21.6b

0.001

  

0–139 grams

140–499 grams

500–999 grams

≥1000 grams

 
 

Amount of cake/biscuits in home

17.2a

18.9ac

21.6bc

23.3b

<0.001

 

Number of snacks per day

2.9 ± 1.15 (0–8) snacks per day [r = 0.23d]

<0.001

  1. a,b,c Superscripts indicate which categories show a statistically significant difference using Bonferroni correction: same letter indicates no difference, different letter indicates a difference.
  2. d Pearson correlation coefficient