Friday Night Is Pizza Night: A Comparison of Children’s Dietary Intake and Maternal Perceptions and Feeding Goals on Weekdays and Weekends

Debra A. Hoffmann, Jenna M. Marx, Jacob M. Burmeister and Dara R. Musher-Eizenman
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Debra A. Hoffmann: Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA
Jenna M. Marx: Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA
Jacob M. Burmeister: Department of Psychology, University of Findlay, Findlay, OH 45840, USA
Dara R. Musher-Eizenman: Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-12

Abstract: Childhood obesity is a serious issue in the U.S. While obesity is the result of a multitude of factors, a great deal of research has focused on children’s dietary intake. While children’s eating patterns vary throughout the week, not much else is known about weekday-weekend differences. Therefore, the current study examined differences in the frequency and portion size of school-age children’s consumption of common foods and beverages, as well as mothers’ perceptions of those items and their child feeding goals, on weekdays and weekends. A total of 192 mothers of children aged 7 to 11 were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Results showed a consistent pattern of more frequent consumption and larger portions of unhealthy foods and beverages on weekends. This aligned with mothers’ perceptions of those foods and beverages as weekend items, as well as their feeding goals of health and price being less important on weekends. It is quite possible that weekends are viewed as having less structure and facilitate schedules that allow children to consume more meals away from home. These findings shed light on additional risk factors in children’s eating patterns and highlight the serious implications that day of the week can have on childhood obesity.

Keywords: school-age children; weekday; weekend; dietary intake; portion size; food perceptions; feeding goals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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