EATING BEHAVIOURS OF MIDDLE- AND SECONDARY-SCHOOL PUPILS

Background. Eating behaviours of school-aged youth condition their emotional and psychophysical development. Moreover, they influence the effectiveness of learning and affect one’s health and the quality of life at older age. Objective. The objective of the study was the evaluation of eating behaviours of the group of pupils from cities of the Up-per Silesian region, as well as the identification of differences between middle-school and secondary-school pupils ’ eating behaviours. Material and methods. 902 pupils (474 middle-school and 428 secondary-school pupils) participated in the study. The research materials included questionnaires prepared by the author of the study, containing the questions about the pupils’ eating habits. Results. The middle-school pupils constituted 52.5 % of the 902 pupils and the secondary-school pupils were 47.5 % of the total. On average, 38.2 % of the pupils consumed 4 meals daily. Wholemeal bread and/or groats were eaten daily by 34.4% of the pupils. Milk and/or milk drinks were consumed by 56.3 % of the pupils every day and 33.5 % of the respondents had also fermented milk drinks daily. 61.3 % of the participants declared eating meat at least once a day and 44.9 % of the pupils had fish once or twice a week. Vegetables and fruit were eaten daily by 61.4 % and 66.6 % of the pupils respectively. Sweets were consumed at least once a day by 50.6 % of the pupils. Occasional consumption of fast-food products and ready-mad