Students' dietary habits, food service satisfaction, and attitude toward school meals enhance meal consumption in school food service

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to compare student consumption of school meals by school level, to identify the influencing factors of school meal consumption, and to assess improvement needs of school food service among students. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A total of 1,441 elementary, middle, and high school students attending 58 schools in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea participated in the survey in 2015. A questionnaire and informed consent forms for students and legal guardians were sent home and completed responses were returned to the researcher. RESULTS: Approximately 58% of the students perceived the portion sizes of school meals as appropriate and 76.1% consumed almost all or all of the meals served. More elementary and middle school students than high school students consumed almost all or all of the meals (P < 0.001). A regression analysis revealed that the students with a higher dietary behavior score (P < 0.001), higher satisfaction with food service (P < 0.001), a higher environmental protection practice score (P < 0.05), and more positive attitudes toward school meals (P < 0.01) consumed significantly more meals. The provision of foods that taste good and reflecting student opinions on menus were the most important factors for increasing school meal consumption. CONCLUSIONS: To increase consumption of school meals, food service staff should provide students with quality meals and engage students in school food service. Nutrition education that emphasizes healthy eating behaviors and cafeteria environment modification that applies strategies based on behavioral economics can encourage students to consume more school meals.