Relationship between socioeconomic status and fruit and vegetable intake among Washington State middle school students

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2014PURPOSE: To determine the associations between individual-level measures of socioeconomic status (SES) of middle school students and their rates of fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption within the school environment and away from the school environment. METHODS: Student FV consumption at school and away from school was assessed by a self-administered Beverage and Snack Questionnaire in 64 middle schools in Washington State. For both at school and away from school environments, consumption data was categorized into "yes FV" and "no FV" groups. Self-reported eligibility for free and reduced price lunch was used as a proxy for low SES. χ² testing was used to analyze the relationship between markers of SES and FV consumption. Logistic regression analysis was used to further investigate the association between SES markers and FV consumption at school and away from school by controlling for school-level differences, sex, and race dichotomized as white and non-white. RESULTS: Data from 6646 seventh graders were used in analysis of FV consumption at school and data from 7066 seventh graders were used in analysis of FV consumption away from school. χ² analysis indicated that FV consumption while at school is positively related to markers of low SES (χ² value = 14.76, df =1, p< .001) but is negatively related to markers of low SES away from school (χ² value = 17.46, df =1, p< .001). Logistic regression analysis showed that students with markers of low SES had 1.35 greater odds of FV consumption at school (95% CI: 1.18 to 1.55; p