Abstract

This study was carried out with 343(161 male, 182 female) elementary school children to investigate the relationship between 5th and 6th grade males and females of living in Chuncheon city. The degrees of going without a meal and overeating showed high in breakfast and dinner respectively. Also most children responded that they eat more than usual when they are under stress. After having dinner, 52.8% of the children ate snacks. 64.7% of the children have unbalanced diets with the main reason being they don't like the peculiar smell that some foods have. Most children sleep 8 hours and go to school on foot, and 74.3% of the children enjoy indoor activities in their spare time. The regularity of exercise shows a low level of 39.1%. In weight control, 51.0% of the children take no interest in it. Thirty percent of the children get their nutrition knowledge from school and the order of average mark of their nutrition knowledge is poor(40.5%), fair(36.4%), and excellent(23.0%). Most children like sweet taste. It is prevalent that the children think instant food is not good for their health, and their preference for instant food is on a fair level. The most popular instant food is in the order of ddogbbokki, ice-cream, kimbap, fried chicken and pork cutlet.

• Keywords: elementary school children; nutrition knowledge; food habits