SOME SELECTED FACTORS AFFECTING EATING BEHAVIOR OF ADOLESCENT: IMPLICATION FOR HOME ECONOMICS

This research identified some selected factors affecting the eating behavior of adolescent in Esan West Local Government Area. Four questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. A total of 679 students were utilized. A 30-item questionnaire was the instrument for gathering the data. Mean, standard deviations answered the research questions, while the t-test was utilized for testing the null hypotheses at.05 level of significance. Findings revealed among others that the respondents have poor eating behavior such as skipping of breakfast among urban and rural respondents (1.06, 1.02), low consumption of fruits and vegetable, (3.01, 3.20) Consume fried foods daily (3.33, 2.56). Low intake of carbohydrates among the urban respondents (2.55) then, the rural respondents (3.22), regular consumption of sweets, biscuits, snacks, soda and sweetened drinks daily among respondents. (3.05, 2.60). Other findings are that respondents agreed that all the maternal, environmental and media factors affect the eating behavior of the adolescent. The result also indicates that hypothesis one had significant differences in items 3,5,6&7. Which mean that the stated null hypothesis at.05 level of significance is rejected for those items. The results in items 1,2,4,8,9&10 indicated there is no significant difference in their mean responses, therefore the null hypothesis of no significance difference is retained for those items. In the last three hypotheses all the items had t calculated less than t-table value of 1.96 at.05 level of significance. Thus, the hypotheses of no significant difference were retained in the three hypotheses. The study recommended among others that: Parents should be advised to guide and monitor their children in the use of the media, by occupying their children with other physical activities to reduce television viewing, video games and the use of computer, so as to guide against the acquisition of wrong nutrition information that can lead to poor eating behavior.