Does television viewing predict dietary intake five years later in high school students and young adults?
ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Prior research has found that television viewing is associated with poor diet quality, though little is known about its long-term impact on diet, particularly during adolescence. This study examined the associations between television viewing behavior with dietary intake five years later. METHODS: Survey data, which included television viewing time and food frequency questionnaires, were analyzed for 564 middle school students (younger cohort) and 1366 high school students (older cohort) who had complete data available at Time 1 (1998-1999) and five years later at Time 2 (mean age at Time 2, 17.2 +/- 0.6 and 20.5 +/- 0.8 years, respectively). Regression models examined longitudinal associations between Time 1 television viewing behavior and Time 2 dietary intake adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, Time 1 dietary intake, and Time 2 total daily energy intake. RESULTS: Respondents were categorized as limited television users (<2 hours/daily), moderately h
