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Table 2 Description of the children surveyed.

From: The "Snacking Child" and its social network: some insights from an italian survey

 

N

Snacker

No snacker

Overall

p-value 1

BMI

p-value 2

  

608

607

1215

 

(Snackers only)

 

Gender

    

p = ns

 

p = 0.214

   Male

 

344 (56.6)

331 (54.5)

675 (55.6)

 

17.8 [15.9; 20.0]

 

   Female

 

264 (43.4)

276 (45.5)

540 (44.4)

 

17.1 [14.9; 20.4]

 

Age (years)

    

p < 0.001

 

p < 0.001

   6

 

128 (21.1)

121 (19.9)

249 (20.5)

 

16.5 [14.9; 19.0]

 

   7

 

120 (19.7)

102 (16.8)

222 (18.3)

 

18.0 [16.0; 20.0]

 

   8

 

167 (27.5)

114 (18.8)

281 (23.1)

 

15.9 [14.6; 20.7]

 

   9

 

102 (16.8)

135 (22.2)

237 (19.5)

 

17.1 [16.2; 20.4]

 

   10

 

91 (15.0)

135 (22.2)

226 (18.6)

 

17.8 [17.4; 19.8]

 

BMI

1082

17 [15; 20]

18 [15; 20]

18 [15; 20]

p = 0.120

 

p < 0.001

   Underweight/normal

 

326 (60.3)

325 (60.1)

651 (60.2)

 

15.9 [14.6; 16.8]

 

   At risk of overweight

 

91 (16.8)

101 (18.7)

192 (17.7)

 

18.3 [18.1; 20.4]

 

   Overweight

 

124 (22.9)

115 (21.3)

239 (22.1)

 

21.9 [20.7; 23.4]

 

Interest of the child for the snack

1145

   

p = ns

 

p < 0.001

   Focused on the product

 

208 (35.9)

173 (30.6)

381 (33.3)

 

18.3 [16.5; 20.4]

 

   Focused on the gadget accompanying the snack

 

372 (64.1)

392 (69.4)

764 (66.7)

 

16.6 [14.9; 19.0]

 

Age of the mother at time of child birth

1187

30 [27; 33]

31 [28; 34]

30 [28; 33]

p < 0.001

17.4 [15.3; 20.0]

 

Time of sleeping of the child per day

1187

   

p = 0.002

 

p < 0.001

   At most 8 hours

 

210 (36.0)

168 (27.8)

378 (31.8)

 

18.0 [16.0; 20.7]

 

   More than 8 hours

 

373 (64.0)

436 (72.2)

809 (68.2)

 

16.7 [15.2; 19.4]

 

Time when the child wakes up

1186

   

p = ns

 

p < 0.001

   7.30 AM or earlier

 

369 (63.3)

402 (66.7)

771 (65.0)

 

17.1 [14.9; 19.2]

 

   Between 7.30 AM and 8.30 AM

 

101 (17.3)

105 (17.4)

206 (17.4)

 

18.1 [16.7; 21.0]

 

   After 8.30 AM

 

113 (19.4)

96 (15.9)

209 (17.6)

 

17.1 [16.0; 20.6]

 

Number of meals per day of the child

1188

   

p < 0.001

 

p < 0.001

   At most three

 

69 (11.8)

132 (21.8)

201 (16.9)

 

16.9 [14.5; 17.9]

 

   Four

 

334 (57.3)

334 (55.2)

668 (56.2)

 

16.8 [15.3; 20.0]

 

   Five or more

 

180 (30.9)

139 (23.0)

319 (26.9)

 

18.3 [16.0; 20.4]

 

Place of meals

1209

   

p = 0.088

 

p = 0.010

   At home

 

538 (89.2)

558 (92.1)

1096 (90.7)

 

17.6 [15.3; 20.0]

 

   Outside home

 

65 (10.8)

48 (7.9)

113 (9.3)

 

16.5 [14.9; 17.8]

 

The place of meals is changing during the week

1208

   

p = ns

 

p = 0.065

   Yes

 

217 (36.0)

205 (33.9)

422 (34.9)

 

17.3 [14.9; 20.0]

 

   No

 

386 (64.0)

400 (66.1)

786 (65.1)

 

17.6 [15.4; 20.4]

 

Number of different sport activities per week

1190

   

p = ns

 

p = 0.008

   None

 

175 (29.5)

176 (29.5)

351 (29.5)

 

17.6 [16.0; 20.4]

 

   One sport

 

312 (52.6)

318 (53.3)

630 (52.9)

 

17.6 [15.2; 20.0]

 

   Two

 

82 (13.8)

85 (14.2)

167 (14.0)

 

17.1 [14.9; 20.4]

 

   Three or more

 

24 (4.0)

18 (3.0)

42 (3.5)

 

16.0 [14.3; 17.5]

 

Time (hours) of sport activities per week

1190

   

p = ns

 

p = 0.133

   None

 

175 (29.5)

176 (29.5)

351 (29.5)

 

17.6 [16.0; 20.4]

 

   Between one and three hours

 

252 (42.5)

246 (41.2)

498 (41.8)

 

17.8 [14.8; 20.4]

 

   More than three hours

 

166 (28.0)

175 (29.3)

341 (28.7)

 

17.4 [15.3; 19.2]

 

Hours per day watching TV or playing videogames

1115

   

p < 0.001

 

p < 0.001

   At most one hour

 

144 (26.4)

233 (40.9)

377 (33.8)

 

17.4 [14.5; 18.0]

 

   Between one and two hours

 

224 (41.1)

215 (37.7)

439 (39.4)

 

17.1 [15.3; 20.2]

 

   More than two hours

 

177 (32.5)

122 (21.4)

299 (26.8)

 

17.8 [15.9; 20.4]

 

Hours of studying outside school time

1041

   

p = 0.113

 

p = 0.006

   At most three hours

 

116 (23.2)

131 (24.2)

247 (23.7)

 

16.8 [14.5; 20.7]

 

   Between three and seven hours

 

179 (35.8)

221 (40.9)

400 (38.4)

 

17.4 [15.3; 19.0]

 

   More than seven hours

 

205 (41.0)

189 (34.9)

394 (37.8)

 

18.1 [16.0; 20.4]

 

What is your perception on the weight of your child

1204

   

p = ns

 

p < 0.001

   He/she is underweight

 

69 (13.9)

60 (11.7)

129 (12.8)

 

14.5 [13.8; 15.3]

 

   He/she is normal

 

428 (86.1)

454 (88.3)

882 (87.2)

 

16.8 [15.3; 19.0]

 

   He/she is overweight

 

101 (16.9)

92 (15.2)

193 (16.0)

 

20.6 [18.1; 22.8]

 

How much, in Kg

298

4 [3; 5]

3 [2; 5]

3 [2; 5]

p < 0.001

18.1 [14.6; 21.4]

 

How much (in case of overweight), in Kg

182

5 [3; 10]

3 [2; 6]

4 [2; 7]

p < 0.001

20.6 [18.1; 22.8]

 

Number of close friends aged 6-10 yrs

1135

   

p = 0.188

 

p = 0.001

   None

 

39 (6.9)

56 (9.8)

95 (8.4)

 

18.9 [14.3; 22.8]

 

   Between one and three

 

100 (17.7)

93 (16.3)

193 (17.0)

 

17.8 [16.7; 20.8]

 

   More than three

 

427 (75.4)

420 (73.8)

847 (74.6)

 

17.6 [15.3; 19.2]

 
  1. N refers to the number of valid responses. If no indicated, the number is 1215. Absolute numbers and percentages. P-value1 refers to the significance of the difference among snackers and no snackers, p-value2 to the difference in BMI across categories of each variable in the snackers only group.