Nutritional Status and Eating Behaviour of School Aged Children Residing Rural Area of Bagalkot, A Cross-Sectional Study

Background of the study: Proper nutrition is crucial to consider when care for kids, as it protects against malnourishment, maintains a healthy immune system, prevents obesity and reduces the risk of chronic disease. Parents and caregivers influence children's eating through the type of foods they provide, how meals are structured, their parenting style, role modeling and the family and social environment. School-going age is very significant because this is the main period of life to make the body store nutrients. These stores help in the rapid growth of children. Aim: Aim of the study is assessing nutritional status and eating behaviour of school aged children. Methods: A cross sectional quantitative non-experimental approach was used to achieve overall and comprehensive purpose. A sample of 270 children from 6 to 12 years of school aged children and their either parents was selected by disproportionate stratified random sampling technique and data was collected by structured questionnaire for baseline characteristics of samples, nutritional status and eating behaviour. SPSS version 28 was used for statistical analysis. CHI squire test to associate nutritional status with eating behavior and socio demographic factors. Results: There is significant association between nutritional status and socio demographic variable. Age (date of birth) (2= 18.99 P value 0.0001) there is significant association between AGE and nutritional status. There is a significant association between eating behavior and socio demographic variables. Age (P value 0.0001) there is a significant association between eating behavior and AGE, Religion (P value 0.02) there is a significant association between eating behavior and religion. Conclusion: Parental control reward, social facilitation, sensory education availability and accessibility of food and controlling strategies for changing children’s eating behavior in a positive direction appear to be counterproductive hands-on approaches such ...