Purchasing Behavior, Setting, Pricing, Family: Determinants of School Lunch Participation

Abstract

Despite growing school lunch availability in Germany, its utilization is still low, and students resort to unhealthy alternatives. We investigated predictors of school lunch participation and reasons for nonparticipation in 1215 schoolchildren. Children reported meal habits, parents provided family-related information (like socioeconomic status), and anthropometry was conducted on-site in schools. Associations between school lunch participation and family-related predictors were estimated using logistic regression controlling for age and gender if necessary. School was added as a random effect. School lunch participation was primarily associated with family factors. While having breakfast on schooldays was positively associated with school lunch participation (ORadj = 2.20, p = 0.002), lower secondary schools (ORadj = 0.52, p < 0.001) and low SES (ORadj = 0.25, p < 0.001) were negatively associated. The main reasons for nonparticipation were school- and lunch-related factors (taste, time constraints, pricing). Parents reported pricing as crucial a reason as an unpleasant taste for nonparticipation. Nonparticipants bought sandwiches and energy drinks significantly more often on school days, whereas participants were less often affected by overweight (OR = 0.66, p = 0.043). Our data stress school- and lunch-related factors as an important opportunity to foster school lunch utilization.

Healthy, Inclusive and Sustainable Catering in Secondary Schools—An Analysis of a Transformation Process with Multiple Tensions

“…Our findings show that two thirds of the pupils never eat lunch in school. Other studies on German secondary schools show similar results or slightly higher participation rates-between 33% [17], 37% [15] and 58% [16]-but these results include pupils from lower secondary levels.…”

“…Other studies highlight the influence of socio-cultural aspects within and outside schools on meal acceptance. These include the supervisory but also supportive role of teachers [ 29 ], the role of eating and relaxing in peer interactions [ 30 ], differences in the cultural heritage of pupils [ 31 ] and their tastes [ 32 ], as well as the influence of meal routines at home [ 17 ].…”

“…Equally problematic is the high number of pupils who are not willing to eat school lunches on a regular basis [ 16 ]. Studies have identified several reasons for the low interest in school meals, such as poor flavors, limited choice of dishes, high prices, and a lack of quality in terms of the food and the physical environment [ 16 , 17 ].…”

Systems Mapping of the New Zealand Free and Healthy School Lunch Programme: Perspectives from Lunch Providers

“…Food preferences, eating autonomy, social pressures, the presence of food outlets near school grounds, cultural appropriateness, providing more time to eat lunch and regularity of the programme all influence the uptake of school meals [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 ]. In addition to these individual factors influencing the likelihood of student participation, the interaction of such constructs is important.…”

Race/Ethnicity Predicts School Meal Participation

“…Additionally, if participants indicated they chose school meals because of taste, convenience, parent influence, or cost, they were more likely to participate in school lunch. Many of these factors are well documented in the literature 10,38,39 …”