Unhealthy after School Snacks: Socioeconomic Disparities of Food Environments around Public and Private Schools in the United States

Abstract

This study aims to compare the food retail environments (hereafter FRE) around public and private schools in the United States and explore if socioeconomic factors on the school and county levels affect the FREs around schools. This research includes 75,055 public and 20,427 private schools as well as 65,044 convenience stores, 44,383 small food stores, and 96,652 healthy grocery stores (e.g., supermarkets and supercenters). A t test was run to compare the FREs around public and private schools. Regression models were run to examine the influences of the socioeconomic factors on school FREs. FRE around private schools was of lower quality compared to that of public schools (p < 0.01). Both school and county level socio-demographic factors had significant influences on school FREs. Schools with higher percentages of racially marginalized and low-income students tend to have worst FREs (p < 0.001). Schools located in counties with high racial segregation, non-White percentage, unemployment, poverty rate, and low educational attainment tend to have unhealthy FEs as well (p < 0.001). Policy makers should pay attention to FREs around both private and public schools, particularly those schools with high percentages of low SES students and located in disadvantaged counties.