Maternal awareness of nutrition and physical activities as determinants of BMI in Nigerian School pupils

Abstract

The study investigated the influence of maternal awareness of nutrition and physical activities on body mass index (BMI) of Nigerian school pupils. Three hundred school pupils participated in this study. A structured questionnaire was used to assess the maternal awareness of nutrition and physical activities. Body height and body-mass were measured with a stadiometer and a bathroom weighing scale, respectively. BMI was calculated using the formula weight (kg)/height (m2). Pearson coefficient of correlation and independentsample t-test were used to test the hypotheses. Statistical significance was accepted for a p-value <0.05. The results showed that the maternal awareness of nutrition is a proportionate and a significant (p<0.05) correlate of children’s BMI. On the other hand, there was no significant correlation between the maternal awareness for physical activities and children’s BMI. Thus, we suggest that the maternal awareness of nutrition can determine children’s BMI.