The association between parental education, living arrangements and dietary habits among overweight and obese Norwegian children aged 6-10 years : “Frisklivsstudien barn”

Abstract

Children´s dietary patterns have changed the passed decades. Children are more overweight and obese, and social inequalities related to this topic are discussed among all societies. The purpose of the master thesis was to explore the association between the sociodemographic factors parental education and living arrangements and the availability and intake of selected food items and total energy intake and macronutrient intake among overweight and obese Norwegian children aged 6-10 years. The thesis is an extension of the theory that is used in the article. This thesis begins with an introduction, which further expands to the elaboration of childhood overweight and obesity occurrence, the causes of the childhood epidemic and further the consequences of childhood overweight and obesity and preventive actions. Further, the objective and description of method applied, the study population, recruitment process, data collection and statistical analysis is explained. Selected results will be presented in the first part of the thesis. Following this, a discussion of the selected results and the used methodology is presented. Further, the article is attached presenting more results. The article is scheduled to be submitted to the Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, Following the article, is attached the frequency questionnaire, request forms, consent forms and research protocol approval from the Regional Commite for Ethics and the ethical approval and research clearance from the Norwegian Social Science Data Service. Keywords: Children, overweight, parental education, living arrangements, dietary habits, food availability