Information and decision‐making regarding food choices by undergraduate students

Abstract

Factors affecting the decision‐making of young adults and the relative importance they place on sources of information about food choices are addressed in a US population of undergraduate students (n = 355). Acculturation and transition to an “American” diet occurs over time and sources of information and their relative importance regarding dietary choices are expected to vary based on generational residence time, ethnicity, and age. Results indicate that students born outside the US and first generation students rate the value they place on information from the media about diet (TV, news, magazines) significantly higher than 2nd and 3rd generation students (t‐test, TV, p=0.004, news, p=0.061, magazines, p=0.019). Both recent (born outside the US and 1st generation) immigrants and established immigrants (2nd and 3rd generation) rate information from parents as the most important source of information regarding dietary choices. However, recent immigrants rate information from parents significantly higher than established immigrants (t‐test p=0.039). The value of different sources of information also varies by ethnicity (ANOVA, p=0.015). Post hoc comparisons indicate that for whites compared with Hispanic and Asians, TV is significantly (p < 0.05) less likely to influence their diet, while for Asians, the newspaper, magazines and the internet is significantly (p < 0.05) more likely to influence their diet compared with non‐Hispanic Whites and Hispanics. These results will aid in the design of nutrition intervention strategies and shed a light on the factors affecting the maturation of dietary choices and decision‐making among multi‐ethnic groups.Supported by CDC grant # 1H75DP001814‐01.