Eating and smoking behaviours of school children in southwestern Ontario and Charlottetown, PEI.

We conducted in-class written surveys of fourth to eighth grade children's eating and smoking behaviours in southwestern Ontario (n = 870) and Charlottetown (n = 423) in order to facilitate local school boards' and health units' planning of health education initiatives. Using chi-square analysis, we examined sex, grade, provincial and rural-urban differences in behaviours. No rural-urban differences emerged. While students reported few gender differences in food group consumption, more PEI students consumed French fries, snack foods, cakes and cookies, and regular soft drinks daily. Only 60.1% (379/630) of girls and 70.0% (462/660) of boys (chi 2 = 13.8; p < 0.001) ate breakfast every day, falling to 53.2% (115/216) among eighth grade girls, and 32.9% (25/76) among students who smoked. The prevalence of smoking was 4.8% (n = 40) in Ontario and 8.5% (n = 36) in PEI (chi 2 = 6.8; p < 0.01). Compared to non-smokers, a higher proportion of students who smoked consumed snack foods and regular soft drinks daily. The results emphasize the need to promote healthy eating behaviours and anti-smoking messages among school children.