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College Students and Eating Habits: A Study Using An Ecological Model for Healthy Behavior

Overweightness and obesity rates have increased dramatically over the past few decades and they represent a health epidemic in the United States (US). Unhealthy dietary habits are among the factors that can have adverse effects on weight status in young adulthood. The purpose of this explorative stu...

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Autores principales: Sogari, Giovanni, Velez-Argumedo, Catalina, Gómez, Miguel I., Mora, Cristina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6315356/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30477101
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu10121823
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author Sogari, Giovanni
Velez-Argumedo, Catalina
Gómez, Miguel I.
Mora, Cristina
author_facet Sogari, Giovanni
Velez-Argumedo, Catalina
Gómez, Miguel I.
Mora, Cristina
author_sort Sogari, Giovanni
collection PubMed
description Overweightness and obesity rates have increased dramatically over the past few decades and they represent a health epidemic in the United States (US). Unhealthy dietary habits are among the factors that can have adverse effects on weight status in young adulthood. The purpose of this explorative study was to use a qualitative research design to analyze the factors (barriers and enablers) that US college students perceived as influencing healthy eating behaviors. A group of Cornell University students (n = 35) participated in six semi-structured focus groups. A qualitative software, CAQDAS Nvivo11 Plus, was used to create codes that categorized the group discussions while using an Ecological Model. Common barriers to healthy eating were time constraints, unhealthy snacking, convenience high-calorie food, stress, high prices of healthy food, and easy access to junk food. Conversely, enablers to healthy behavior were improved food knowledge and education, meal planning, involvement in food preparation, and being physically active. Parental food behavior and friends’ social pressure were considered to have both positive and negative influences on individual eating habits. The study highlighted the importance of consulting college students when developing healthy eating interventions across the campus (e.g., labeling healthy food options and information campaigns) and considering individual-level factors and socio-ecological aspects in the analysis.
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spelling pubmed-63153562019-01-08 College Students and Eating Habits: A Study Using An Ecological Model for Healthy Behavior Sogari, Giovanni Velez-Argumedo, Catalina Gómez, Miguel I. Mora, Cristina Nutrients Article Overweightness and obesity rates have increased dramatically over the past few decades and they represent a health epidemic in the United States (US). Unhealthy dietary habits are among the factors that can have adverse effects on weight status in young adulthood. The purpose of this explorative study was to use a qualitative research design to analyze the factors (barriers and enablers) that US college students perceived as influencing healthy eating behaviors. A group of Cornell University students (n = 35) participated in six semi-structured focus groups. A qualitative software, CAQDAS Nvivo11 Plus, was used to create codes that categorized the group discussions while using an Ecological Model. Common barriers to healthy eating were time constraints, unhealthy snacking, convenience high-calorie food, stress, high prices of healthy food, and easy access to junk food. Conversely, enablers to healthy behavior were improved food knowledge and education, meal planning, involvement in food preparation, and being physically active. Parental food behavior and friends’ social pressure were considered to have both positive and negative influences on individual eating habits. The study highlighted the importance of consulting college students when developing healthy eating interventions across the campus (e.g., labeling healthy food options and information campaigns) and considering individual-level factors and socio-ecological aspects in the analysis. MDPI 2018-11-23 /pmc/articles/PMC6315356/ /pubmed/30477101 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu10121823 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Sogari, Giovanni
Velez-Argumedo, Catalina
Gómez, Miguel I.
Mora, Cristina
College Students and Eating Habits: A Study Using An Ecological Model for Healthy Behavior
title College Students and Eating Habits: A Study Using An Ecological Model for Healthy Behavior
title_full College Students and Eating Habits: A Study Using An Ecological Model for Healthy Behavior
title_fullStr College Students and Eating Habits: A Study Using An Ecological Model for Healthy Behavior
title_full_unstemmed College Students and Eating Habits: A Study Using An Ecological Model for Healthy Behavior
title_short College Students and Eating Habits: A Study Using An Ecological Model for Healthy Behavior
title_sort college students and eating habits: a study using an ecological model for healthy behavior
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6315356/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30477101
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu10121823
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