Table 2 Socio-demographic and behavioural characteristics of participating COMPASS secondary school students (n = 7679) from Alberta (n = 497), Ontario – Public (n = 6674), and Ontario – Private (n = 508) schools at Wave 1 (2013/14)
Characteristic | Total n (%) | Alberta n (%) | Ontario – Public n (%) | Ontario – Private n (%) | p valuea |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Socio-demographic and behavioural | |||||
Gender | < 0.001 | ||||
 Female | 4110 (53.5) | 292 (58.8) | 3642 (54.6) | 176 (34.7) |  |
 Male | 3569 (46.5) | 205 (41.2) | 3032 (45.4) | 332 (65.3) |  |
Grade | < 0.001 | ||||
 9 | 4138 (53.8) | 158 (31.8) | 3717 (55.7) | 263 (51.8) |  |
 10 | 3346 (43.6) | 334 (67.2) | 2773 (41.6) | 239 (47.0) |  |
 11 | 191 (2.5) | 5 (1.0) | 181 (2.7) | 5 (1.0) |  |
 12 | 4 (0.1) | 0 (0.0) | 3 (0.0) | 1 (0.2) |  |
Ethnicity | < 0.001 | ||||
 White | 5983 (77.9) | 385 (77.5) | 5245 (78.6) | 353 (69.5) |  |
 Aboriginal | 143 (1.9) | 42 (8.4) | 101 (1.5) | 22 (4.3) |  |
 Asian | 429 (5.6) | 18 (3.6) | 358 (5.4) | 53 (10.4) |  |
 Black | 226 (2.9) | 4 (0.8) | 200 (3.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
 Latin | 109 (1.4) | 2 (0.4) | 99 (1.5) | 8 (1.6) |  |
 Other | 789 (10.3) | 46 (9.3) | 671 (10.0) | 72 (14.2) |  |
Weekly spending money | < 0.001 | ||||
 $0 | 1625 (21.2) | 85 (17.1) | 1436 (21.5) | 104 (20.5) |  |
 $1–$20 | 2978 (38.8) | 129 (26.0) | 2659 (39.9) | 190 (37.4) |  |
 $21–$100 | 1607 (20.9) | 126 (25.3) | 1360 (20.4) | 121 (23.8) |  |
  > $100 | 412 (5.4) | 54 (10.9) | 342 (5.1) | 16 (3.1) |  |
 I don’t know/missing | 1057 (13.7) | 103 (20.7) | 877 (13.1) | 77 (15.2) |  |
Weight status | < 0.001 | ||||
 Underweight | 107 (1.4) | 6 (1.2) | 91 (1.4) | 10 (2.0) |  |
 Healthy weight | 4437 (57.8) | 268 (53.9) | 3826 (57.3) | 343 (67.5) |  |
 Overweight | 1045 (13.6) | 73 (14.7) | 900 (13.5) | 72 (14.2) |  |
 Obese | 429 (5.6) | 35 (7.1) | 382 (5.7) | 12 (2.3) |  |
 Missing | 1661 (21.6) | 115 (23.1) | 1475 (22.1) | 71 (14.0) |  |
Truancy | < 0.001 | ||||
 Skipped 0 classes in last four weeks | 6730 (87.6) | 400 (80.5) | 5864 (87.9) | 466 (91.7) |  |
 Skipped ≥1 classes in last four weeks | 949 (12.4) | 97 (19.5) | 810 (12.1) | 42 (8.3) |  |
Weight goal | < 0.001 | ||||
 Not trying to do anything about weight | 1851 (24.1) | 129 (26.0) | 1599 (24.0) | 123 (24.2) |  |
 Gain weight | 1094 (14.3) | 55 (11.0) | 930 (13.9) | 109 (21.5) |  |
 Lose weight | 3136 (40.8) | 224 (45.1) | 2732 (40.9) | 180 (35.4) |  |
 Stay the same weight | 1598 (20.8) | 89 (17.9) | 1413 (21.2) | 96 (18.9) |  |
Weekday SSB consumption b | Mean ± SD | Mean ± SD | Mean ± SD | Mean ± SD | p value c |
Freq. of consuming soft drinks | 1.73 ± 1.70 | 1.92 ± 1.74 | 1.73 ± 1.70 | 1.64 ± 1.58 | 0.029 |
Freq. of consuming sweetened coffees/teas | 1.15 ± 1.58 | 1.30 ± 1.63 | 1.14 ± 1.57 | 1.11 ± 1.60 | 0.021 |
Freq. of consuming energy drinks | 0.15 ± 0.60 | 0.34 ± 0.92 | 0.14 ± 0.59 | 0.07 ± 0.38 | < 0.001 |
Composite SSB scored | 3.03 ± 2.65 | 3.57 ± 2.92 | 3.00 ± 2.64 | 2.83 ± 2.43 | < 0.001 |