NUTRITIONAL BEHAVIOURS OF IN- SCHOOL ADOLESCENTS IN JIGAWA STATE, NIGERIA IMPLICATION FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS

Abstract

The study examined the nutritional behaviour patterns of in- school adolescents in Jigawa State, Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. A sample of 3,192 in-school adolescent representing two per cent of the population participated in the study. Proportionate stratified random sampling was employed to draw the sample for the study. The instrument used for data collection was In-school Health Risk Behaviour Questionnaire ( ISAHRBQ). Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. Data collected were presented and analyzed using descriptive statistic of mean for the research questions, while t – test was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Results showed that female students never exhibited healthy nutritional (1.18± 0.57) behaviours, while male students exhibited healthy nutrition (2.31± 0.76) behaviours rarely. Urban and rural students exhibited healthy nutrition (Urban = 2.05±0.30; Rural = 2.08± 0.65) behaviours rarely, There was significant difference (p > 0.05) in the mean responses of in- school adolescents regarding nutritional behaviours according to gender. There was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in the mean response scores of in-school adolescents regarding nutritional behaviours according to location. The study concluded that both urban and rural in- school adolescent exhibited healthy nutrition behaviours rarely. The study recommends that Jigawa State government should implement a sustainable livelihood nutrition initiative at school and community levels in order to improve adolescent’s nutritional behaviours in all the secondary school in the state.