Abstract
Objective: This study investigated whether preschool children's family breakfast habits were related to their lifestyles and to their families' childcare practices.
Methods: The participants were 524 mothers of 3-year-old children attending kindergartens and nurseries in Tokyo, Japan, in September 2009. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to assess the association between the preschool children's family breakfast habits, which were considered as the dependent variable, and their lifestyles (model 1) and the family's childcare practices (model 2), which were considered as explanatory variables.
Results: The results showed that 122 (23.3%) of the participants never ate family breakfasts, 167 (31.9%) ate family breakfasts 2~3 days/week, 48 (9.2%) ate family breakfasts 4~5 days/week, and 187 (35.7%) ate family breakfasts every day. The frequency of family breakfasts was associated with the frequency of family dinners. Multivariate logistic regression analysis (stepwise) for model 1 provided information for the following parameters: regular mealtimes (odds ratio [OR]: 2.58, 95% confidence interval [95%CI]: 1.22-5.43), regular snack times (OR: 1.83, 95%CI: 1.18-2.83), regular waking times (OR: 1.92, 95%CI: 1.26-2.95), and regular bedtimes (OR: 1.78, 95%CI: 1.14-2.78); the results for model 2 included data on the father's positive childcare practices (OR: 1.75, 95%CI: 1.11-2.76).
Conclusion: The results of this study show that preschool children's family breakfast habits are associated with their lifestyles and their families' childcare practices.
