Dietary Attitudes and Behaviour of Czech Boys and Girls

Summary

A study of 614 male students and 639 females students (average age 16.4 years) from randomlyselected secondary schools in Prague and České Budějovice showed significant differences ineating attitudes and behaviour between young men and young women. The young womenpreferred food with lower energy values, food containing less fat, vegetables and vegetarianmeals or so-called „rational“ cooking. However, it seems that their eating attitudes wereinfluenced mainly by their fear of becoming fat. 57.4 per cent of the young women stated thatthey were dieting in the past three months in order to lose weight, 6 per cent were vomitingand 4.7 per cent were regularly using laxatives because they were afraid of becoming fat. Morethan one third of the girls in the sample regularly skipped one of the main daily meals andalmost one half of them were not eating with their parents. The young women were on averageslimmer than the young men (3.8 per cent of the girls had a BMI higher than 25). Anotherimportant criterion differentiating the respondents was the type of education. Female studentsof secondary grammar schools had a more regular eating regime, they were less frequentlydieting and at the same time they were slimmer than other young women. No significantdifference was found in relation to the place of residence of the respondents.

Key words:
eating attitudes - body weight - gender differences - type of education - eating