Relationship Between School Food Environment and Eating Behaviors of Primary School Children in Dodoma: A Cross-Sectional Study

ABSTRACT

This cross-sectional study assesses the relationship between school food environment and eating behaviors of primary school children in Dodoma among 248 primary school children aged 6–13 years. School characteristics information and socio-demographic characteristics were collected. Multilevel modeling was employed to assess the individual-level variance in eating behaviors. Most of the variances in the investigated eating behaviors were at the personal level. Significant associations (p < .05) were between protein-rich food intake and fats and sugar-rich food with the death of either parent. And association between intake of vitamin and mineral-rich foods and the number of people living in household.

KEYWORDS:

• Eating behaviors
• primary school children
• school food environment

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the parents who gave consent to their children to participate in this study, to the children for their participation, to the heads of the schools to the school’s food teachers, food school teachers, and all those who contributed to the accomplishment of this work in one way or another.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that supported these findings are available upon request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

Additional information

Funding

This study was privately sponsored by the authors.