Abstract

The purpose of this study is to find out the effect of nutrition education on dietaty behavior, nutrition knowledge and weight control of middle school students. The study is based on the assumption that students' dietary behavior, nutrition knowledge and weight-control are considerably influenced by whether they get nutrition education or not. A total of 495 students aged between $14{\sim}16$ (249 boys and 246 girls) were surveyed one middle school located Siheungsi, Gyeonggido. The survey reveals that 55.4% of the boy students and 63.0% of the girl students have been provided nutrition education in curriculum related to nutrition, for instance home economics, technology class, and/or some other classes. The results showed that the students who have been provided nutrition education don't skip breakfast and have three meals regularly(p<0.05). The score of dietary behavior is based on Mini-Dietary Assessment. The average score of the students who have been provided nutrition education is higher than the students who have never been provided nutrition education(p<0.01), meaning the nutrition education are affected positively on dietary behavior. The average score of students' knowledge of nutrition is as follows. The average score of the students who have been provided nutrition education is 5.0/10, while the average score of the students who have never been provided nutrition education is 3.9/10. The gap of the average score does come up to an inevitable conclusion that the students who have been provided nutrition education are supposed to get higher score than those who have never been provided nutrition education(p<0.0001). And the students who have been provided nutrition education are more satisfied with their body shape than those who have never been provided nutrition education(p<0.05).

Keywords

• dietary behavior;
• nutrition knowledge;
• weight control;
• nutrition education experience