Race/Ethnicity Predicts School Meal Participation

Abstract

BACKGROUND School meals have demonstrated positive effects on dietary habits of children and adolescents, yet opportunities to increase participation exist. Little is known about how participation differs by race/ethnicity or by acculturation levels, thus this study aims to identify acculturation and race/ethnicity on school meal participation of middle school students. METHODS A national convenience sample of adolescents (n = 617) was recruited to participate in a survey about acculturation and obesogenic behaviors through a Qualtrics panel. Data were analyzed in SAS version 9.4 where 2 logistic regression models were built to examine associations between school meal participation and other salient variables. RESULTS More than a quarter (26.2%) of participants indicated they eat school lunch daily and 17.4% eat school breakfast daily. In a multivariable model, race/ethnicity, preference for school meals, taste, convenience, cost, and parent influence were all significantly related to daily school lunch participation. Race/ethnicity, time lived outside of the United States, healthiness of school meals, preference of school meals, taste, and cost were significantly related to daily school breakfast participation. CONCLUSIONS This study establishes differences in participation rates by race/ethnicities and other factors. Child nutrition professionals should consider students from minoritized populations to understand their lack of participation, particularly because these students likely have poorer diets compared to whites. Additional factors should be considered for increasing participation, including cost, taste, and perceived healthiness.

Examining Factors Associated with the Use of Community Food Resources: An Application of the Andersen Model to Inform Future Interventions

“…Many eligible families already do not participate in or are on the waiting list for programs like the School Nutrition and Meals on Wheels [50,51]. Previous studies have also reported that race and ethnicity are salient factors that influence participation in and preference for meals served in these programs [52,53]. Furthermore, income and multi-mode of transportation were factors that contribute to the use of food services.…”

Evaluation of health and economic effects of United States school meal standards consistent with the 2020–2025 dietary guidelines for Americans

“…One of the priority actions in the National Strategy is to increase access to free and nourishing school meals [ 56 ]. Notably, children from low-income households and racial/ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely to participate in the school meal program [ 57 ]. As a consequence, our results suggest that children from these vulnerable backgrounds would gain greater dietary improvements in childhood as well as a larger proportion of future health benefits in adulthood ( Supplementary Table 4 and Supplementary Figure 2 ).…”