Students’ nutrition orientations: differences according to gender and subject of study

Peer-reviewed | Manuscript received: April 7, 2015 | Revision accepted: July 1, 2015

Introduction

Subject area is rarely considered a differentiating factor in research on university students’ nutrition attitudes and behavior. However, sociological studies point out that there are different “subject cultures” in universities, manifesting themselves among other things in different food preferences. This paper investigates whether students in different subject areas also differ in their nutrition orientations, i.e. clusters of attitudes, preferences and aversions in the field of nutrition and related activities. Basic nutrition orientations were empirically identified in a sample of university students (N = 1 593) from seven different departments. Like food preferences, nutrition orientations manifested themselves differently according to subject of study and gender.

Problem

With respect to socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics such as age, education, family status, and income that are related to nutrition behavior [1, 2], university students are a comparatively homogeneous group. However, there are considerable differences in terms of nutrition in the student population that are, among other things, determined by structural factors such as living conditions [3–5] and time budget [5]. Moreover, many studies demonstrated that attitudes and orientations are related to nutrition behavior in the general population [6, 7] and in American college students [8].

Summary

The paper reports results from a survey on attitudes, preferences and aversions in the field of nutrition and related activities of 1 593 male and female students from seven departments at the University of Bonn in Germany in December 2011. Five basic nutrition orientations were identified: orientation towards health, food preparation, and pleasure, the perception of eating as a minor matter and the association of eating with both positive and negative emotions. The intensity of these orientations, as well as preferences for certain foodstuffs were related to the subject of study and gender. While the association of food with emotions was higher among female students, they also liked preparing their own meals and valued healthy eating higher than male students. Students of the natural sciences considered food quality and pleasure as rather unimportant, whereas students of the humanities, social and nutrition sciences perceived eating as an enjoyable common activity and attached higher value to a healthy diet. Subject areas as a determinant of nutrition orientations constitute an important factor in studies among university students.

Keywords: nutrition orientations, nutritional behavior, gender; subject area, analysis of variance, principal component analysis

Full text PDF (free access)