ABSTRACT

Adolescence is an important period of growth as well as establishment of healthy balanced behaviour for balanced nutrient intakes. This research work assesses the snacking habits and anthropometric status of adolescents in Njaba Local Government Area in Imo State. The study employed the use of a cross sectional study design. The population of the study was made up of adolescents 10-19 years of age in Njaba L.G.A of Imo State. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select 292 adolescents for the study. Personal data and snacking habits of the adolescents were gotten with the help of a structured questionnaire. The data realized were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency and percentages while the relationship between the variables were analyzed using Pearson Correlation. The result on personal data of the adolescents showed that more than half (57.9%) of the adolescents were females, majority (92.1%) were Christians and 50.8% lived in households made up of 4-6 persons. The result on educational status of the parents showed that 41.7% of the fathers had primary education as against 42.4% for the mothers. The result on occupation showed that more than half (55.2%) of the fathers were traders as against 33.4% for the mothers. The result on snacking habits of the adolescents showed that half (50.3%) of the adolescents consumed snacks 1-2 days weekly, for the weekly record, 46.2% of the adolescents consumed snacks at least 2 times a day for the daily record and 56.6% of them consumed snacks only once per day over the weekends. The result on anthropometric status showed that 4.8% of the girls were overweight as against 3.3% for the boys, 3.6% of the girls were obese as against 2.4% for the boys while 4.1% of the boys were underweight as against 2.9% of the girls. The study further revealed that 3.1% of the entire adolescents were obese, 4.1% were overweight while 3.4% were underweight. The result on the relationship between snacking habits and anthropometric status of the adolescents showed that anthropometric status was significantly and positively correlated to snacking habits, which implied that an increase in snacking habits will lead to increased BMI in the adolescent population. Conclusively the study is of the opinion that snacking habits of adolescents do have a significant impact on their anthropometric status.