Assessment of Dietary Characteristics and Eating Behavior in Children Using a Dietary Screening Test

This study examined the dietary characteristics and eating behaviors of 163 children aged 3∼6 years in Chungcheongnam-do using a 38-item dietary screening test (DST) that assessed life pattern, dietary quality, eating development, temperament, and behavior. The key findings were as follows: In the growth assessments, 96% of children showed “good” growth. However the proportion of children at risk of obesity increased with age. The most common bedtime was between 10:00 PM and 11:00 PM, with an average sleep duration of 9 hours. Sleep duration increased with age, but there were no gender differences. In bedtime assessments, girls showed a higher rate of ‘caution’ due to bedtimes falling outside the recommended range (24.7%). Additionally, 3-year-olds had a higher rate of ‘caution’ evaluations by age (18.8%). The average mealtime was 30.4 minutes, with boys eating faster than girls. While most children had “good” mealtime behavior, 8.1% of the boys ate too quickly, and 14.3% of the girls ate too slowly. Of the food varieties, fruit intake was the highest, while kimchi intake was the lowest. However, 6-year-old children ate more kimchi and vegetables. Boys ate more fast-food snacks than girls, and only 1.8% of the children had “good” meal quality, indicating a need for improvement. 80% of the children had “good” eating development with few chewing problems. Pickiness was common, but older children showed fewer issues. In the “risk” growth group, none of the children had “good” dietary profiles. The children in this group showed higher early media exposure, suggesting the need for appropriate dietary guidelines.