Journal of Child and Adolescent Behavior
Open Access

Research Article

Television Viewing and Food Choice Patterns in a Sample of Predominantly Ethnic Minority Youth

Daheia J Barr-Anderson^1*William J McCarthy²Michelle Yore³Kajuandra A Harris⁴Antronette (Toni) K Yancey⁵

¹Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA

²Division of Cancer Prevention and Control Research and Psychology Department, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

³Private statistical consultant, Orlando, FL, USA

⁴Private nutrition and health consultant, Auburn, AL, USA

⁵Department of Health Services, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

*Corresponding Author:

Daheia J Barr-Anderson
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
University of South Carolina, Columbia
South Carolina 29208, USA
Tel: 803-777-2857
Fax: 803-777-9007
E-mail: dbarrand@mailbox.sc.edu

Received Date: April 28, 2013; Accepted Date: June 17, 2013; Published Date: June 20, 2013

Citation: Barr-Anderson DJ, McCarthy WJ, Yore M, Harris KH, Yancey AK (2013) Television Viewing and Food Choice Patterns in a Sample of Predominantly Ethnic Minority Youth. J Child Adolesc Behav 1:106. doi: 10.4172/2375-4494.1000106

Copyright: © 2013 Barr-Anderson DJ, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Objective: To examine the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between television viewing and preferred food choices in a sample of ethnic minority, low income adolescents. Methods: A sample of predominantly minority students (n=133) completed surveys at two time points, six months apart. Linear regression models examined television viewing and eating associations. Results: Participants watched >3.5 hours/day of television, which is similar to the national average. Positive cross-sectional relationships existed between television viewing with fast food and sweetened beverage intakes at Time 1 and with snack food intake at both time points (p<0.01). The longitudinal association between change in snack food intake and change in average television hours/day approached significance after adjusting for baseline measure (β=0.305, p=0.017), as did the relationship with family meals (β=-0.20, p=0.02). No other longitudinal relationships were significant. Conclusions and implications: If interventions reduced adolescents television viewing time, such interventions could positively impact eating habits and thereby reduce adolescents risk for obesity.

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