Attitude towards Food Associated with Food Preferences in Japanese Elementary and Junior High School Students

Abstract

Food-related preferences and practices are formed in early childhood. Our prior study suggested that children’s food preferences were related to their attitude towards food, especially “concern about food” and “respect for food.” In this study, we investigated the association of the high and low level of “attitude towards food” to food preferences of 6–16-year-old students. In 2017, a questionnaire was given to 1,658 students and guardians who attended public school and junior high school in the Hyogo prefecture of Japan. A total of 497 (29.9%) completed questionnaires were returned. The Kruskal–Wallis, Mann–Whitney U, and Jonckheere–Terpstra tests were employed to assess any associations between the independent variables and three levels of “concern about food” and “respect for food” with significance being at p < 0.05. The number of foods disliked by the students significantly decreased with increasing levels of “attitude towards food”. The present study suggests that the students’ “attitude towards food” was associated with their food preferences.