Objective: Describe eating competence, a positive and flexible way of conceptualizing eating attitudes and behaviors, in students enrolled in an introductory nutrition course. Methods: Online completion of the Satter Eating Competence Inventory (ecSI) and self-assessment of eating disorder status by 557 students (343 ages 18-20 years and 180 ages…

Spending a few minutes reading about the benefits of breastfeeding had a significant, positive effect on university students' knowledge and attitudes toward breastfeeding on post-surveys and follow-up surveys one month later. Since lactation duration is correlated with both knowledge and attitudes toward breastfeeding, implications of these…

Objective: To discover how college students conduct dinner groups and perceptions of the benefits and difficulties of participation. Design: Qualitative study conducted with 7 focus groups. Setting and Participants: A university campus, with 36 students participating in dinner groups, defined as a group of 3 people or more cooking for one another…

Objective: To determine whether differences in nutrition knowledge affected how women (a high-involvement group) interpreted intrinsic cues (ingredient list) and extrinsic cues ("all natural" label) on food labels. Methods: A 2 (intrinsic cue) x 2 (extrinsic cue) x 2 (nutrition knowledge expert vs novice) within-subject factorial design…

Objective: To examine the roles of gender and race in students' determinants of food choices on a college campus. Methods: A total of 405 college students participated in a survey entitled "Campus Food: You Tell Us!" Chi-square and logistic regression were used to examine associations between demographics and food choice determinants. Results:…

Objectives: To examine sex differences in eating habits and nutrient intakes and explore whether eating habits mediate the effects of sex on nutrient intakes and whether sex moderates the effects of eating habits on nutrient intakes. Methods: Cross-sectional survey of eating habits and food-intake frequency in a convenience sample of college…

Objective: Examine how maternal parenting behaviors in childhood, both general and feeding specific, relate to weight status and fruit and vegetable consumption in college students. Design: Retrospective surveys on maternal behaviors and assessments on the college-aged child's current anthropometric measures and dietary intakes. Participants:…

Objective: To develop and test the validity of the Behavior, Environment, and Changeability Survey (BECS) for identifying the importance and changeability of nutrition, exercise, and stress management behavior and related aspects of the environment. Design: A cross-sectional, online survey of the BECS and selected validated instruments. Setting:…

Objective: To characterize associations between perceived time constraints for healthy eating and work, school, and family responsibilities among young adults. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: A large, Midwestern metropolitan region. Participants: A diverse sample of community college (n = 598) and public university (n = 603) students.…

Objective: To estimate current consumption of whole grains in college students and determine whether there would be an increase in whole-grain consumption after the students completed an interactive introductory nutrition course focusing on disease prevention. Methods: Eighty college students, 18-24 years old, participated in the study. Grain and…

Nutritionopoly, an interactive educational program based on the popular board game, Monopoly, was held at a college university dining hall. Students actively participated in the game while learning important nutrition and health-related information. Feedback showed that it was effective in increasing awareness and knowledge while being fun and…

Objective: To examine the influence of body mass index (BMI), sex, and race on college students' optimistic bias (OB) concerning the healthiness of their own lifestyles relative to the "average college student" and best friends. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: Large university campus. Participants: College students recruited…

Objective: To identify whether university students who have both food-safety knowledge and beliefs perform risk-reduction behaviors. Design: Cross-sectional research using a questionnaire that included food-safety knowledge, perceptions, risk-reduction behavior, stages for the selection of safer food based on the Transtheoretical Model, and…

Objective: Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Transtheoretical Model (TTM), this study (1) examines links between stages of change for following a plant-based diet (PBD) and consuming more fruits and vegetables (FV); (2) tests an integrated theoretical model predicting intention to follow a PBD; and (3) identifies associated…

Objectives: To examine the correlates of trans fat knowledge and trans fat label use; to examine the influence of trans fat knowledge, trans fat label use, and dietary attitudes on intake of high trans fat food. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: An urban commuter college. Subjects: Two hundred twenty-two college students. Variables…