Sources of nutrition information of Chilean schoolers, metropolitan region, Chile, survey 1986-1987.
The purpose of the present study was to determine the relative importance of different sources of nutrition information used by Chilean schoolers to learn the basics of nutrition. In this respect, a representative sample of 4,509 elementary and high-school children was randomly selected and stratified according to grade, sex, type of school and geographic area. Schoolers were individually interviewed in order to collect data related with socioeconomic status (SES) and sociocultural conditions, as well as to learn as to what they considered to be the most important sources of nutrition information influencing their nutritional learning, gathering the necessary data through a questionnaire especially designed for this purpose. Results indicated that 87.8% schoolers mentioned their family (mainly the mother), as the most important source of nutrition information; 10.7% said the school teacher, and 1.5%, mass media (0.8% television, 0.5% books, 0.1% magazines and 0.1% radio) without significant differences by sex, age and geographic area. The role attributed to the family (mother) was important in all SES categories, but proved to be significantly higher in the high SES group (91.9%) than in the low SES group (84.6%). The role attributed to the school teacher, in contrast, was lower (6.7%) in the high SES group than in the low SES group (13.8%) (p less than 0.001). In relation to mass media, the influence attributed to books and magazines was high in the high SES group, but television and radio were more important in the low SES group. On the other hand, significant differences found by type of school were related to SES. These findings could be useful in the establishment of food and nutrition policies, as well as in educational planning focused on the Chilean school population, considering that few studies have been carried out along these lines.
Ivanović
R
R
Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA), University of Chile, Santiago.
Olivares
M
M
Ivanović
D
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002677:Chile; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008402:Mass Media; D052756:Nutritional Sciences / Q000193:education; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class; D013334:Students; D013663:Teaching; D014505:Urban Population