The Difference Between Meal Frequencies, and Frequencies of Consuming Specific Foods With or Without Family Among Saudi Adolescent Females

Abstract:
Objective: To recognize the difference between meal frequencies, and the frequencies of consuming specific foods with or without family among adolescent Saudi females in the city of Riyadh.
Methods: Five hundred and twenty Saudi females aged 13–19 years (mean age = 13.74 ± 1.10), who were attending middle school in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia, participated in this cross-sectional study. All participants completed a questionnaire regarding the frequency and location of meals and their food intake during the 2009–2010 academic school year.
Analysis: A variety of measures related to central tendency and variability were used to describe these data, and the nature and strength of possible relationships were investigated using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient, analysis of variance, LSD, and t-test. All data were analyzed using SPSS.17 software.
Results: The majority of participants gathered with their families to eat three major meals a day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), participating in these meals at a rate of 74.8%, 95.6%, and 92.9%, respectively. Higher family meal frequency represented a significant increase(p < 0.01) in the average number of times per week the participants consumed chicken, meat, fish, shrimp, eggs, rice, bread, beans, cheese, yogurt, milk and dairy, fruit juice, fresh vegetables, cooked vegetables, fresh fruits, and backed pastries. On the other hand, a significant decrease was observed (p < 0.01) in the average number of times per week they consumed sweets and chocolate, soft drinks, snacks, fast food, cornflakes, and energy drinks during meals when the adolescents ate with their families. There was a positive significant Spearman correlation (p < 0.01) observed between family cohesion and food consumption patterns.
Conclusions: It is clear from these analyses that there is a significant decline in the consumption of healthy foods when adolescent females in Saudi Arabia eat outside the family setting. This may be attributable to access to fast food, lack of discipline or time, or not being aware of health implications. It raises the issue of the public health policy or actions that need to change to in order to offset this pattern. Public health policy must highlight the importance of family meals in terms of their contribution to improving the quality of food intake among adolescents.