Ways Young Adults View Foods

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-3182(97)70158-4Get rights and content

Abstract

To identify the ways in which 18 to 24 year olds view foods, a mail survey was constructed that included demographics, opinion items, a repertory grid rating foods against factors thought to influence food intake, and a food frequency. Of the 1475 respondents, 736 were college students (students), 237 were college graduates (graduates), and 328 were high school graduates not attending school (nonstudents). Factor analysis for the total group and for each subgroup examined underlying views held by the respondents. Findings showed that the respondents viewed foods in terms of physical/social aspects, whether they were health-promoting or fattening, importance of nutrition with adequacy of money and food shopping/preparation skills, and adequacy of stores and cooking facilities. For students, importance of nutrition disappeared as a perception while convenience emerged. For graduates, adequacy of money disappeared while importance of nutrition appeared as a strong perception. The nonstudents showed a fifth factor identifying satiety value of food as a strong perception while importance of nutrition disappeared. Habit was the individual variable showing the highest correlation with frequency of consumption of selected foods. The results suggest that respondents viewed foods differently based on ’whether or not they were students. Nutrition messages may need to focus on the different ways in which foods are viewed to be effective.

References (14)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (42)

  • Characteristics associated with cooking frequency among college students

    2021, International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science
  • Self-Perceived Cooking Skills in Emerging Adulthood Predict Better Dietary Behaviors and Intake 10 Years Later: A Longitudinal Study

    2018, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior
    Citation Excerpt :

    Perceived adequacy of cooking skills was assessed in emerging adulthood (age 18–23 years) and several other food preparation and meal behaviors were assessed in later adulthood (age 30–35 years). The item on adequacy of cooking skills was adapted from a 10-state survey of young adult food habits19 and was pretested along with other new survey items in focus groups with 20 young adults before they were added to the Project EAT-II survey. Similarly, for EAT-IV, 2 focus groups were conducted to pretest an initial draft of the survey with a community-based sample of 35 young adults.

  • Qualitative description of college students' dinner groups

    2012, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior
  • College Students' Barriers and Enablers for Healthful Weight Management: A Qualitative Study

    2009, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior
    Citation Excerpt :

    Low intake of fruits and vegetables, excess caloric intake, and lack of physical activity are frequently cited as reasons for weight problems in adults.3 Many college students have low intakes of fruits and vegetables and high intakes of food with excess calories, saturated fats, alcohol, and added sugars.4,5 Based on national surveys of college students, only 5.7% report eating 5 or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables,6 62% report only 1-2 daily servings of fruits and vegetables,6 and 21.8% report eating 3 or more high-fat food items a day.7

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text