Children’s Eating Habits and Obesity While Watching Television

Objectives: The current study aimed to examine the effect of eating habit of children while watching TV on obesity.
Methods: The population of this descriptive study consisted of the mothers with children in the age group of three to five years, who referred to five family health centers from June to July 2015. No sampling selection was performed in the study. The study was conducted on 165 mothers, who agreed to participate in the study and their children. The data were collected with the face-to-face interview method and using a form including questions related to the socio-demographic characteristics of the mothers and children as well as the condition of children watching TV and their nutritional status. After measuring the weight and height of the children by a digital scale and a standard assessment tool by researchers, their body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Before collection of the data, the approval of the ethics committee, verbal permission from the parents and a formal written permission from the related institution were obtained. Percentage, mean and Chi-square tests were used to assess the data.
Results: According to the obtained results, 33.9% of the children were five years old and 52.7% were male. According to classification of BMI, 9.7% of the children were very slim, 12.7% slim, 58.8% normal, 8.5% over-weight and 10.3% obese. It was determined that 58.2% of the children ate while watching TV and 34.4% of those ate their meals once a day while watching TV.
Conclusions: It was found that more than half of the children watched TV while eating. It is suggested that nurses inform the parents about the harms of having their children eat while watching TV as well as obesity.