The present study was aimed at to find family characteristics food habits, physical exercise and -other factors related to obesity among the elementary school children in Seoul. The data used in this study were collected from both 203 obese students as a study group and 203 normal students as a control group according to their relative body weight. In addition, the data were also collected from 391 mothers -of both groups of students to complement students´ data. The survey for the present study was conducted from June 19 to July 13, 1984.
The major findings are summarized as follows:
1. Observed from the relative body weight, 203 subjects, 9.9% of the 2,052 subjects turned out to be obese.
-2. Family Characteristics
(1) Considering about weaning history, 53.3% of the control group had been breast-fed before the introduction of supplementary foods, which was higher than that of the study group, 44.4% (P< 0.05). 49.5% of the study group were weaned at the age of 4-6 months, while 48.5% of the control group at the age of 7^12 months (P<0.05). The result showed that the termination of breast-fed of the study group was earlier than that of the control group.
, (2) Considering about physical growth of family, in the study group 34.0% of fathers, 28.1% of -mothers and 43.9% of brothers and/or sisters were overweight or obesity, while in the control group .15.8% of fathers, 8.9% of mothers and 7.4% of brothers and/or sisters were overweight or obesity(P<0.001).
<3) Considering about physical growth and development, the mean height of the study group were 139.2cm in boys and 138.5cm in girls, while that of the control group were 132.5cm in boys and 131. 9cm in girls. The mean weight of the study group were 42.0kg in boys and <0. 1kg in girls, while that of the control group were 27.2kg in boys and 26.9kg in girls.. Various indices of nutrition such as relative weight, RShrer: index, Kaup udex were determined. 3.. Investigation into food habits ,
(1) Considering about food preference, it showed no remarkable differences between both groups In case butter, even though it was not a favorite food,´34.0% of the study group and 27.6% of the control group liked it, which was revealed that the study group liked better than the control group. Considering about taste preference, the study group liked sweet taste more than the ? control group.
(2) Considering about food behavior, 68.5% of the study group and 85.1% of the control group had three times of meals a day, which showed tendency towards skipping meals in the study group was higher than that in the control group (P(3) Considering about snacking behavior, the mean frequency of snacking was 2.1times per day in the study group while 2.5 times per day in the control group. Especially, in case of sweets and chocolates, 53.7% of the study group and 64.5% of the control group took frequently (P<0.05).
4. Physical Exercise
(1) Considering about physical exercise performance of groups, 60.6% of the study group and 67.0% of the control group exercised regularly and favorite exercises were rope-skipping and running in both groups. As far quantities of exercise, 28.1 % of the study group and 26. 1% of the control group similarly exercised every day.
(2) Considering about preference towards exercise, 21.3% of the study group and 8.9% of the control group disliked physical education (P<0.01).
5. Mother´s Attention to their Children´s Health Management
(1) Considering about attention to food behavior. it revealed that mothers of the study group restricted quantity of food more severe than_ mothers of the control group (P(2) Considering about attention to nutrition and exercise, 23.3% of the study group and 42.0% of the control group took nutrients (P
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