Mapping and Predicting Patterns of Chinese Adolescents' Food Preferences

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 11; no. 9; p. 2124
• Main Authors: Sun, Shaojing, He, Jinbo, Fan, Xitao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 06.09.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Adults; Appetite; Asian Continental Ancestry Group - psychology; Asian Continental Ancestry Group - statistics & numerical data; Behavior; Biological activity; Body Mass Index; Child; Child development; Chinese; Diet; Diet - psychology; Diet - statistics & numerical data; Error analysis; Female; Food; Food consumption; food preference; Food preferences; Food Preferences - psychology; Fruits; Health care; Health risks; Humans; Latent Class Analysis; Male; Mapping; Nutrition; Nutrition research; Nutrition Surveys; Obesity; Preferences; Questionnaires; Rural Population; Sex Factors; Sleep; Surveys and Questionnaires; Teenagers; Urban Population; Vegetables; China; Chinese; food preference; latent class analysis; adolescents
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu11092124

This study aimed to examine the patterns of, as well as the predictors for, Chinese adolescents' food preferences. Using the national data of the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), we analyzed the data of 697 adolescents in the age range of 12 to 17 years. Latent class analysis revealed four types of food preferences: (37.09%, = 254), (19.69%, = 131), (7.56%, = 50), and (35.66%, = 222). Major predictors for food preferences included demographic variables (e.g., gender, urban versus rural residence), nutrition knowledge, preference for activities, and social attitudes. Results did not show any significant differences in BMI -scores among the four latent classes. However, there were significant differences in the number of sleeping hours among the classes.