Motivational Factors for Food Choices

During the Transition from Highschool to

College Among Western Kentucky

University Students:

Summary for the BRIGHT Coalition

Unhealthy behaviors leading to chronic

diseases -such as the BRIGHT priority

health issues CVD, obesity, and Type-2

Diabetes-can often be traced back to young

adulthood (age 18-25).

Young adults feel like they are “still young”

and that unhealthy behaviors won’t have

long-term consequences. They are unaware

that the development of chronic disease

begins early in life. Too often, eating habits

developed in young adulthood continue

throughout a person’s life. The diet established in young adulthood is associated with weight gain and

impacts health outcomes in the later adulthood.

The transitional period from adolescence to young adulthood is a time where young people are

making new decisions and establishing life-long behaviors [6]. The behaviors established prior to

leaving their homes may change due to the changes in the available resources. Lack of capability to

cope with the transition from living at home to living independently has been shown to contribute to

an unhealthy diet, especially among college students [5].

Yu-Hsuan Chen, MPH, Western Kentucky University (2017)

The Dietary Habits of Young Adults Matter

Given that most of the young adults aged 18 to 24 (96%) report having a

good health status [7] and the mortality rate resulting from chronic

disease in young population is low [3], the need for better health

awareness of this age group is often overlooked by the young adults

themselves and by the public.

Though the prevalence of chronic diseases in young adults is much

lower than in the older adults, there is a sharp increase in the prevalence

proportion of health conditions with metabolic risk factors, such as being

overweight, during the transition period of adolescence to young adulthood [2], especially among college students

[5]. On average, the nutritional quality of the college student diet is poorer than the diet of adolescents living with

their parents [6]. This indicates that the college environment is a notable factor for the difference [5].

Although the “Freshman 15” myth is an exaggeration, college students do tend to gain weight during this transitional

period. If a person’s weight increases persistently through the college years, the buildup of weight could lead to

obesity when a young adult leaves the university [4].

Methods and Results of the Study

• The College-Aged Health Maintenance survey was disseminated among WKU students from February 15, 2017 until March

15, 2017. A total of 527 responses were collected.

• The survey measured the respondent’s consumption of fast food meals and perceived healthy meals. The word ‘perceived’

indicates that the healthy meal is self-defined. Regardless of whether their definition of healthy food is correct or not, the

deliberate consumption of food they perceive as healthy indicates a motivation to eat healthy meals.

• Assuming 3 meals/day, about one out of every four meals was fast food among the surveyed WKU students.

• The survey measured the importance of ten motivational factors that influenced the decision to eat healthy foods. It used a

5-point scale with numerical increases indicating greater importance. These factors were ‘convenience’, ‘natural content’,

‘weight control’, ‘sensory appeal’, ‘price’, ‘familiarity’, ‘health’, ‘mood’, ‘ethical concern’, and ‘socializing’ (See Motivation Score

Graph):

✓ Price and convenience were the two most important considerations to both genders while pondering healthy

foods. On average, these two factors were rated over 3 points.

✓ Both males and females valued the ethical concern (e.g. concern that the food was produced in an environmentally

or politically friendly manner) the least, lower than 1.4 points, when it comes to healthy eating. Social and

familiarity factors were the other two factors that were rated lower than 2 points.

✓ When analyzing for gender differences, females were found to value convenience, weight control, sensory appeal,

and mood more than males.

After controlling for all relevant factors, further analysis of the data showed:

• When compared to the individuals who

lived with their family: ✓ The participants who lived on-

campus reported 1.7 more fast food meals per week

✓ Those who live off-campus (but not with family) reported eating 1.3 fewer meals with poor nutritional content per week

• The junior and senior groups reported

eating 1.5 and 2.0 fewer meals with poor nutritional content per week when compared to the freshman population.

3.1

2.1

2.42.6

3.3

1.7

2.8

2.4

1.2

1.6

2.9

2.0 2.1

2.5

3.3

1.7

2.8

2.3

1.4 1.5

3.2 2.1 2.6 2.7 3.4 1.7 2.8 2.5 1.2 1.6

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Motivation Factor Score

Total Male Female

• As a participant’s perception of the importance of eating food high in natural content increased, it

was associated with the following: ✓ a 0.7 decrease in weekly times of fast food consumption ✓ a 6.3% increase in consumption of perceived healthy meals during the semester

• As one point raised in the importance of ethical concern:

✓ the percent of healthy meals consumed during the semester reduced by 4.1% ✓ the frequency of fast food consumption increased by 0.6

• An increase in the importance of sensory appeal, results in about one more fast food meal per

week.

• As the consideration of the health benefit increased, the percentage of perceived healthy meal

consumption increased by nearly 5%.

• A one-point increase in the importance of the convenience dragged down the perceived healthy

meal percentage by 4.7%.

• A one-time increase of physical activity per week was linked to a 0.4% increase in perceived

healthy eating during the semester.

• Female students reported eating 1.1 fewer fast food meals per week than male students.

• The atheist/agnostic population were found to consume 1 fewer fast food meal than Christians.

• When compared to Caucasians:

✓ African Americans ate 2.6 times more at the fast food settings per week. ✓ African Americans consumed 11.4% less of perceived healthy meals during the semester. ✓ The mixed-race student group reported 13.6% lower of perceived healthy eating throughout

the semester.

Living Environment and Healthy Diet Motivation

The chart below shows that, as a participant’s perceived

importance of a motivational factor increases, there are

significant increases or decreases in fast food

consumption based on whether they live with their family,

on-campus, or off-campus but not with family. In

observing the three living groups separately, each group

has its own dominating motivation factors.

Increases in

Motivation Factors

Fast Food Meals (Reported as #

of meals)

Perceived Healthy Meals (Reported

as % of healthy food consumed) With

family

On-

campus

Off-

campus

With family On-

campus

Off-

campus

Convenience 6.6%

Natural Content 1.4 0.7 6.8% 5.4% 7.5%

Weight Control

Sensory Appeal 0.9 1.0

Price

Familiarity

0.7

3.5%

Health 6.1% 9.4%

Mood

Ethical Concern 1.0 0.7 4.2% 5.7% 3.2%

Socializing

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed

Conclusions and Opportunities

• WKU campus is not a healthy-diet friendly environment.

✓ There is no concrete facility for self-catering and the compulsory meal plan includes

several fast food restaurants.

✓ The research supports the claim that students living on-campus have a poorer quality

diet than those living off-campus or with their families.

• The consumption difference of fast food between on-campus residents and off-campus

residents (but not with family) is more than three meals per week. Said differently, individuals who live on-campus consume 14% more fast food meals every week than those who live independently. Such facts and findings suggest that students who live on-campus do not have proper access to healthy food.

• Natural content and ethical concern are the only two motivation factors that can either increase

the consumption of meals they perceive to be healthy or decrease the frequency of fast food

meals across all groups regardless of their residency status. That said, by providing more food

options with natural content in the on-campus food settings, the overall dietary quality of

students attending WKU may increase.

• Students with different living statuses are affected by different motivation factors when it comes

to food decision making. In other words, apart from generally increases the options of food

with natural contents on campus, the intervention strategies should be further broken down by

living situation.

• For example, except natural content and ethical concern, the participants who live with

their family care about the familiarity when considering healthy meals.

• The off-campus group cares about the food’s health benefit and convenience.

• The on-campus group cares about health benefits of their foods. When promoting a

healthy diet on campus, besides natural content, the promotion should simultaneously

focus on the health benefit of the food.

References [1] American College Health Association. (2011). National Health Assessment.

[2] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015). Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Data, Trends and Maps.

[3] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016). Deaths: Leading Causes for 2014.

[4] Freedman, M. R. (2010). Gender, residence and ethnicity affect freshman BMI and dietary habits. American Journal of Health

Behavior, 34(5), 513-524.

[5] LaCaille, L. J., Dauner, K. N., Krambeer, R. J., & Pedersen, J. (2011). Psychosocial and environmental determinants of eating

behaviors, physical activity, and weight change among college students: a qualitative analysis. Journal of American College Health,

59(6), 531-538.

[6] Lipsky, L. M., Haynie, D. L., Liu, D., Chaurasia, A., Gee, B., Li, K., ... & Simons-Morton, B. (2015). Trajectories of eating behaviors in

a nationally representative cohort of US adolescents during the transition to young adulthood. International Journal of Behavioral

Nutrition and Physical Activity, 12(1), 1.

[7] Park, M. J., Mulye, T. P., Adams, S. H., Brindis, C. D., & Irwin, C. E. (2006). The health status of young adults in the United States.

Journal of Adolescent Health, 39(3), 305-317.

[8] Phan, U. T., & Chambers, E. (2016). Motivations for choosing various food groups based on individual foods. Appetite, 105, 204-

211.

[9] Steptoe, A., Pollard, T. M., & Wardle, J. (1995). Development of a measure of the motives underlying the selection of food: the food

choice questionnaire. Appetite, 25(3), 267-284.

This summary was based on student thesis research conducted to satisfy the requirements of the Master in Public Health program at

Western Kentucky University. To learn more about Western Kentucky University’s Public Health Programs, please visit

https://www.wku.edu/publichealth/

For Additional Information Contact: Yu-Hsuan Chen, MPH

yuhsuan.chen22@gmail.com