Chinese Children at a Crossroads: Influence of Family Socioeconomic Factors on Diet Patterns

Abstract

This pilot study explores the roles of family socioeconomic status (SES) in influencing dietary consumption patterns in 60 Chinese elementary school-aged children (ages 6-11) in Chengdu, China. Two interviewer-administered questionnaires were specially developed to gather sociodemographic and food frequency data. Children from low SES families consumed rice and traditional staples, and high calcium drinks more frequently, and western fast food less frequently than children from higher SES families. After controlling for family SES, children who were primarily cared for by their mothers or grandparents consumed less healthy snacks less frequently than children who were primarily cared for by other adults (including fathers).

Fast-food consumption and child body mass index in China: Application of an endogenous switching regression model

“…China is a patriarchal society; hence, we surmise that a father's education may influence the decision to eat fast food. This is consistent with the findings ofOng et al (2010) that children who are cared for by their fathers consumed less healthy food more frequently than their counterparts who are cared for by their mothers or grandparents.…”

“…China's economic prosperity since the 1980s, its one-child policy, and the 2-4-8 extended family structure (two parents, four grandparents, and eight great-grandparents), has led to the 'little emperor syndrome'. 1 Thus, children are frequently overfed, and usually on high calorie and sugary beverages (Jing 2000;Ong et al 2010;Shi et al 2005). From a physiological point of view, weight gain could simply result from an imbalance between calorie intake and energy expenditure (Abdel-Hamid 2002), and fast-food consumption has been identified as a leading cause for the alarming rise of childhood obesity.…”

“…A number of studies in China have found that children from homes with a high socio-economic status (measured by the income, occupation, and education level of parents) or those who reside in urban areas are more likely to consume high-calorie foods such as soft drinks and hamburgers (Ma 2012;Shi et al 2005), whereas their counterparts from low socio-economic status households or those who reside in rural areas are more likely to consume traditional staples and high-calcium drinks such as milk (Ma 2012;Ong et al 2010). Similar results have been found for western countries (see e.g.…”

Monitoring policy and actions on food environments: rationale and outline of the INFORMAS policy engagement and communication strategies

“…tools no. 4,22,23). In a few cases, a summary composite score was reported without presenting the component base indicator scores (e.g.…”

“…by state or province) if policies are predominantly developed and implemented at those levels and data are available at that level. Also, scoring patterns may differ considerably by location, reflecting populationlevel inequalities, for example between urban and rural populations, different ethnic population mixes or different educational or socioeconomic status (19)(20)(21)(22).…”