Evaluation of preschool children's eating behaviors and their mothers' nutritional knowledge levels

Yurduşen S. (2024). Evaluation of Preschool Children's Eating Behaviors and Their Mothers' Nutritional Knowledge Levels, Master's, İstanbul Atlas University Postgraduate Education Institute, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, İstanbul. The most important factor for societies to create a healthy future is healthy children. Although it shows lifelong development. preschool is a critical period. and the level of nutritional knowledge of mothers is among the most important factors for the formation of children's eating habits and adequate and balanced nutrition. The study included 90 children attending a day care center affiliated to Ataşehir Municipality and their mothers. The questionnaire was administered to the participants on a voluntary basis. In the questionnaires, participants' sociodemographic characteristics, eating behavior questionnaire, nutritional knowledge levels scale and food consumption characteristics were questioned. Of the children, 52.20% are girls and 47.8% are boys. The children's ages range from 4 to 6 years old. 45.60% of the children were found to have normal BMI values. 80.00% of the children were fed 3-4 meals. When the mothers' BMIs were analyzed, it was found that 73.40% were normal and 25.60% were slightly obese. It was found that 67.80% of the mothers were undergraduate graduates and 8.90% were postgraduate graduates. When asked how often their children consume fruits/vegetables, 58.90% of the mothers answered 1 or more times a day, every day. When mothers are asked how often their children consume milk and dairy products, 54.40% of them answered 1 or more times a day, every day. In our study, ıt was found that the average basic knowledge score of the mothers was 55.02±6.48 at the moderate level and the average food preference score was 40.29±4.78 at the good level. It was determined that there was a positive relatıonship between mothers' nuttıtıonal knowledge level and food preference. It was determined that as mothers' nutrıtıonal knowledge levels increase. albeıt at a low level. No relatıonship was found between mothers' nutrıtıonal knowledge and food preference and children's BMI values (p>0.05). According to the results of the study the nutrition knowledge levels of mothers should be increased through contınuous repeating the trainings organized. Keywords: the eating behavior in children, preschool period, nutrıtıonal knowledge level, mothers