Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between dietary behavior and the nutrient intake status in the youth of rural areas, based on their personal characters such as their sex, age, family type, number of family members, mother's age, occupation, and school career. This study was made by use of a self-administrated questionnaire with a 24-hour recall for 5days as an instrument with 439 randomly selected students. Statistical methods applied to analyze the data were frequency, percent, Willcoxon Rank-sum test, Kruskal-wallis test, x2-test by contingence table, and Spearman's correlation coefficient in non parametric statistical cases. Some of the interesting results are as follows : 1) The correlation between sex and breakfast is highly significant. That is, over 80% of male students had breakfast every day, whereas only about 60% of female students had breakfast every day. Bad table manners and some other problems are insignificant with respect to the personal characters in the relations between the personal characters and eating behaviors. However, the regularity of every meal, the frequency of having meals with other family members, and the frequency of meals eaten out and snacks show significant differences. 2) The mother's occupation does not have any influence on the nutrient intake of their students when the relationship between personal characters and nutrient intake was analysed. On the other hand sex, the mother's school career, the numbers of family members, the type of family, and the income of the family showed significant differences nutrient intakes. 3) The regularity and the frequency of having meals, meals eaten out with their family members, and the table manners during meals showed significant differences in the intake of nutrient elements such as calorie, protein, fat, fiber, calcium, iron, phosphorus, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, niacin and vitamin C. However some consideration during meals and problems in eating habit are insignificant with regard to nutrient intake.

• Keywords: dietary behaviors; eating habits; nutrient intake statues; rural youth