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ARS Home » Plains Area » Grand Forks, North Dakota » Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center » Healthy Body Weight Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #263140
Title: Insights into freshman weight issues: An ethnographic study of how first-year college students make decisions about eating

Author
item CHILDERS, COURTNEY - University Of Tennessee
item HALEY, J - University Of Tennessee
item Jahns, Lisa
item LAMBERT, CHERYL - Boston University

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/14/2009
Publication Date: 8/4/2009
Citation: Childers, C.C., Haley, J.E., Jahns, L.A., Lambert, C.A. 2009. Insights into freshman weight issues: An ethnographic study of how first-year college students make decisions about eating [abstract]. Presented at the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communications Annual Meeting.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The transition from high school to college represents a life turning point during which health behavior trajectories may be influenced. This study addresses the internal and external factors that guide students’ eating decisions as they are understood and relayed by students through ethnographic, qualitative methods. A sample of 102 second semester college freshmen participated in a two week data collection period. Results show that many students are caught in a negative cycle of food choices with notable social and environmental determinants impacting both their physical and emotional health.