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Parents' Purchases of Kids' Meals for Children
Author(s) -
LeeKwan Seung Hee,
Park Sohyun,
McGuire Lisa,
Maynard Leah,
Blanck Heidi
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.lb320
Subject(s) - purchasing , odds , logistic regression , calorie , meal , descriptive statistics , medicine , odds ratio , demography , ethnic group , environmental health , marketing , business , statistics , mathematics , pathology , sociology , anthropology , endocrinology
Children who regularly eat fast food have worse diets and consume more calories than those who do not. We examined characteristics of parents' purchase of kid's meals, reasons for the purchase, and desire for healthy options in 1,147 parents (蠅18 y) using 2014 ConsumerStyles. The purchase of kids' meals was assessed by following question: “In the past month, have you purchased kids' meals for a child at a fast food/chain restaurant (including drive‐through)?” Follow‐up questions were: 1) if yes, “Did you buy any kids' meals at fast food/chain restaurants in the past month for the following reasons? Select up to 3 choices.” and 2) if no, “Would you be more likely to purchase kids' meals at a fast food/chain restaurant, if there were more healthy options?” Descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression were used to estimate prevalence and adjusted odds ratios (OR) for kids' meals purchased by parental characteristics. Over half (51%) of parents reported purchasing kids' meals. Among those, the top reasons were 1) my child asked for them (48%), 2) I usually purchase them for my child (42%), and 3) they had healthier sides like fruits or fruit cups (25%). Among parents who had not purchased kids' meals, 47% younger parents (18–34 y) were willing to purchase kids' meals if there were more healthy options, while 28% older parents (蠅50 y) did so (p<0.05); no differences by sex, race/ethnicity. The odds of purchasing kids' meals were significantly higher for younger parents (OR=3.4 vs 蠅50 y) and daily sugary drink consumers (OR=2.7 vs none), but significantly less for low‐income parents (蠄$34K) (OR=0.4 vs 蠅$100K); no associations by sex, race/ethnicity, education, region, weight status, physical activity, smoking. Our findings may encourage fast food restaurants to improve quality of kid's meals.