Variables affecting high school students' perceptions of school foodservice.

School foodservice and nutrition programs today are involved in a highly contested tug of war for student participation with competing forces such as brown bag lunches, competitive foods, students not eating, clubs selling snacks as fund raisers, and vending machines. School foodservice and nutrition programs were developed to contribute to the nutrient and energy needs of children and adolescents. They are critically important for reducing food insecurities and improving the nutritional status of our future leaders (1). But students frequently choose not to participate in these programs. High school students today are more sophisticated than in years past and are exposed at an early age to a variety of dining experiences including fast foods, ethnic cuisine, and fine dining (2). Many are raised in an environment where fastfood restaurants and food courts have replaced home-cooked meals and family thee spent eating together around the dining room table. Choices have become the norm rather than the exception. These factors have influenced the attributes by which students evaluate school foodservice and decide whether to participate.

Many studies have been conducted to identify attributes of school foodservice programs that affect participation. The literature shows a relationship between prices charged for [TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE 1 OMITTED] lunch and participation (3,4). In a US Department of Agriculture study, price was identified as the most important determinant of participation (5). Several reports indicated that variety of foods offered influenced students' decisions to participate in a school meal program (6,7). Quality of food has also been found to affect student participation (7). In a study conducted for The American School Food Service Association and sponsored by Sabatasso Foods, taste of food was the number 1 variable influencing the decision to eat school lunch (8). Researchers in Iowa reported that taste of food, cafeteria cleanliness, and temperature of hot food were the most important factors to 11th-grade students (9). The amount of thee it takes for students to be served and eat in the school foodservice has also been shown to influence participation (7,10-13). One study reported that the frequency with which students ate school lunch was correlated with their attitude about the thee available for meal Periods (12).

 
Table 2 
 
Demographic characteristics of sample (n = 1,366)(a) 
 
Demographic                     "Had a choice"     "Had no choice" 
characteristic                       group              group 
 
Grade 
 
9th                                    268                109 
10th                                   278                120 
11th                                   197                104 
12th                                   180                107 
Data missing                             3                  0 
 
Gender 
 
Male                                   416                243 
Female                                 498                186 
Data missing                            12 …