title: Relationships of adolescent's dietary habits with personality traits and food neophobia according to family meal frequency.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A higher frequency of family meals is associated with good dietary habits in young people. This study focused on the relationships of family meal frequency with food neophobia and personality traits in adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  For this purpose, we administered a survey to 495 middle school students in Seoul metropolitan city, after which the data were analyzed using the SPSS (18.0) program. Pearson correlation was used to determine the relationships among dietary habits, personality traits, and food neophobia according to frequency of family meals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Dietary habits, personality traits, and food neophobia all showed significant differences according to the frequency of family meals. Further, eating regular family meals was associated with good dietary habits (P < 0.001) and was linked with improved extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness/intellect (P < 0.001). On the other hand, it showed a negative relationship with food neophobia (P < 0.001). The relationship between dietary habits and food neophobia showed a negative correlation (P < 0.01). The relationship between dietary habits and personality traits showed a positive correlation (P < 0.01). Lastly, the relationship between personality traits and food neophobia showed a negative correlation (P < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on the results of the study, the frequency of family meals affects dietary habits, personality traits, and food neophobia in adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Science and Food Management, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 120-750, Korea.
authors.forename: Mi Sook
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Science and Food Management, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 120-750, Korea.
authors.forename: Miseon
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Nutrition, Gachon University, 1342 Seongnam-daero, Sujeoung-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi 461-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Wookyoun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cho
keywords: Family meals; dietary habits; food neophobia; personality traits
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