Socio Economic Background and Dietary Habits of Secondary School Adolescents with Psychological Counselling Implication for Healthy Living of Children of School Age in Calabar Education Zone of Cross River State, Nigeria
Indeed, the influence of peer groups and the desire for independence which characterize adolescents' psychosocial development often leads to the development of high risk nutritional behaviours. The situation in Cross River State, Nigeria is worse, in that the eating habits behaviour of school children has become of great concerned to parents, school counsellors and health practitioners. This study was conducted to determine the influence of socioeconomic background and residential location on dietary habits of secondary school adolescents in Calabar education zone of Cross River State, Nigeria. The descriptive survey design was employed. The population comprised of all secondary school students in public secondary schools in Calabar Education Zone. The simple and stratified sampling techniques were also used to select 24 secondary schools and 542 students constitute the sample for this study. A well validated and reliable four point Likert scale type instrument was used for data collection. The data collated were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent t test analysis and were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the study revealed that residential area significantly influence adolescents' dietary habits (P> ay 0.05 level of significance) whereas, socio economic background do not significantly affect the dietary habits of adolescents (P> ay 0.05 level of significance) Based on the findings, recommendations made included that the food safety unit of the state Ministry of Health should include in their schedule, school visits to inspect tuck shops and expunge all peddlers of unhealthy foods and that school administrators should employ the services of Nutrition Educators to provide sound nutrition information for the students and parents.