Comunicar 39-ingles - Revista Comunicar

180Comunicar, 39, XX, 2012eating habits of the children in the sample, identifyhealth problems linked to their diet, and analyse theinfluence of television advertising on consumption byschoolchildren in the Huánaco district of the food productsadvertised in 2010.2.3. Variables• Dependent variable: Consumption of food itemsadvertised on television.• Independent variable: Exposure to televisionadvertisements.Among the other possible variables whose effectsit was desirable to monitor, in the interests of methodologicalcoherence with the aims of the study, wefind it useful to consider the role of mothers, grandmothers,aunts, teachers or other people with aninfluence on the diet of the sample studied. We be -lieve it to be obvious and almost axiomatic that the dietin a home or school depends partly on decisions takenby adults responsible for the care and education ofchildren and adolescents. These adults are primarilymothers and fathers and secondly teachers and thosewho prepare school menus. Any dietitian can explainthat the key to attacking the problems of tooth decayand obesity (two of those quoted in the article) lieswith mothers who are not sufficiently wellinformed or give in too easily to their children’srequests or demands, exhibiting weaknessfrom the point of view of the educator.Sometimes mothers act as mediators betweentelevision advertising and the desire of childrenand teenagers to eat what they see inadvertisements. Mothers have two importanttools at their disposal: they can educate childrenin healthy eating habits, rationing andselecting what they see on television, and canmake decisions on the family diet. However,in this first study, we thought it more pertinentto analyse in depth the role of television,reserving for a future occasion the study ofindependent variables such as the role of mo -thers, teachers and others. This work couldeven include a comparative study with a viewto developing a comprehensive educational programme,involving different social agents with responsibilityfor the nutrition of children and teenagers.2.4. Means of gathering information• Visiting schools or, if necessary, homes.• Informed consent form from pupils’ parents or tutors.• Confidentiality and data protection agreement.• Various questionnaires.2.5. Data ProcessingRevision, coding, classification, presentation andinterpretation of results using descriptive and inferentialanalysis. The inductive-deductive method wasused to draw conclusions and generalise results.2.6. Sample SelectionThe sample consisted of 120 subjects, dividedequally between boys and girls. They were classifiedin three age groups, each accounting for 33.3% (40) ofthe total: 6 to 8 years, 9 to 11 years, and 12-14 years.A majority (65%) were from private schools (78 children).The following were excluded from the study:children without a television at home, children notattending school regularly, children who did not agreeto take part in the study.Figure 1. Preferences by age3. ResultsAmong schoolchildren, watching television is themost popular recreational activity (46.7% name it astheir favourite). 95% spent an average of 1-2 hourswatching continuously while 93.3% watched for atotal of 1-4 hours per day. 40% reported that they hadtelevision in the living room at home. However, 38.3%reported that they had television in more than two placesat home, the bedroom being the place most frequentlymentioned (50%). The favourite programmesof the youngest children (aged 6 to 8) are almostexclusively cartoons and the same preference is foundin the 9 to 11 group. The oldest group prefer televisionseries and news programmes. The followingchart shows children’s preferences concerning thecontent of publicity, according to age groups.One of the questions in the study referred to the© ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293• Pages 177-183