A Study on the Relationship between Food Habits, Food Preferences and Personality Traits of Children

아동의 식습관 및 식품기호와 성격특성과의 관계연구

To examine closely the relations between food habits, food preferences and personality traits, 141 boys and 146 girls in the 5th and the 6th grade of primary school in Incheon were studied by questionaires. The results of this study were as follows: 1. In food habit scores, girls got 2.28/3.00 and boys got 2.24/3.00 which meant boys and girls had the similar food habits. 2. The higher were their activity, sociability, responsibility, reflectiveness, and superiority, the higher score they showed in food habits. 3. Meats, fats and processed foods had much to do with emotional stability, and those who belonged to high group in emotional stability high preference for them. But girls who had high preference for meats were low in emotional stability. 4. Fishes of which bones we can eat, and potatoes had relation to activity, and those who belonged to high group in activity showed high preference for them. 5. Vegetables and processed foods had relation to sociability. Those who belonged to high group in sociability showed high preference for vegetables, but those who belonged to middle group in sociability showed highest preference for processed foods. 6. Meats and potatoes had much to do with responsibility. Those who belonged to low group in responsibility showed high preference for them. 7. Those who belonged to the high group in emotional stability, and superiority showed the high preferene for foods respectively, and superiority showed the high preference for foods respectively.