Children's recalls from five dietary-reporting validation studies. Intrusions in correctly reported and misreported options in school breakfast reports.
For school breakfast each day, many elementary schools offer a choice between a cold option that includes ready-to-eat (RTE) cereal and a hot option that includes a non-RTE-cereal entrée such as waffles. For breakfast reports, intrusions (reports of uneaten items) in correctly reported and misreported breakfast options were examined using data from five dietary-reporting validation studies. In each study, fourth-grade children were observed eating school breakfast and school lunch and then interviewed to obtain a dietary recall. A breakfast option was correctly reported in 240 breakfast reports for 203 intrusions total, and misreported in 97 breakfast reports for 189 intrusions total. Asymmetry was evident in misreported options; specifically, children observed eating a cold option almost never misreported a hot option, but children observed eating a hot option often misreported a cold option. Proportionately more breakfast reports were intrusion-free when a breakfast option was correctly reported than misreported. Linking of intrusions (i.e., multiple intrusions from the same option in a breakfast report) was especially evident with misreported breakfast options. Methodological aspects of dietary recalls such as target period (prior 24h; previous day), interview time (morning; afternoon; evening), and interview format (meal; open) had implications for intrusions and misreported breakfast options.
Baxter
Suzanne Domel
SD
Institute for Families in Society, 1600 Hampton Street, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA. sbaxter@gwm.sc.edu
Hardin
James W
JW
Royer
Julie A
JA
Guinn
Caroline H
CH
Smith
Albert F
AF
D002648:Child; D004034:Diet Surveys; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology*; D002523:Edible Grain; D005260:Female; D005502:Food / Q000145:classification*; D005522:Food Services / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D011939:Mental Recall; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012574:Schools; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013997:Time Factors