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Objective: To examine purchase patterns at fast-food restaurants and their relation to restaurant characteristics, customer characteristics, and use of calorie information. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: Fast-food restaurants in New York State. Participants: Adult fast-food restaurant customers (n = 1,094). Variables Measured: Restaurant characteristics (fast-food chain type, presence of calorie labels, and poverty of location), participant characteristics (demographics, calorie knowledge, awareness, and use), and customer purchasing patterns (ordering low-calorie or no beverage, small or no fries, or < 3 items) were used as predictors of total calories purchased. Analysis: Multiple regression. Results: In a regression model including restaurant and customer characteristics, fast-food chain customer age, sex, calorie use, and calorie awareness were independently associated with total calories purchased (all P < .05; model R2 = .19). When 3 purchasing patterns were added to the model, calorie use (P - .005), but not calorie awareness, remained associated with total calories purchased. The 3 purchase patterns collectively accounted for the majority of variance in calorie totals (Δ model R2 = .40). Conclusions and Implications: Promoting use of calorie information, purchase strategies, and calorie awareness represents complementary ways to support lower-calorie choices at fast-food chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the extent to which nutrition education is implemented in selected counties in New York State elementary schools (kindergarten through fifth grade) and explore how nutrition knowledge is presented in the classroom and what factors support it. Design: Cross-sectional, self-administered survey. Setting: New York State elementary schools in selected counties. Participants: New York State elementary school teachers (n = 137). Main Outcome Measures: Hours spent teaching nutrition; nutrition topics, methods of teaching, education resources, and aspects of the school environment that may influence nutrition education. Analysis: Crosstabs with a chi-square statistic and ANOVA. Results: Eighty-three percent of teachers taught some nutrition (9.0 ± 10.5 hours) during the academic year. Teachers taught lessons about finding and choosing healthy food (61%), relationship between diet and health (54%), and MyPyramid (52%) most often. Suburban teachers (12.4 ± 12.5 hours) taught significantly (P = .006) more hours of nutrition than rural teachers (4.2 ± 3.9 hours). Teachers at schools with fewer than 80% nonwhite students taught significantly (P = .02) more (10.4 ±11.4 hours) compared to schools with greater than 80% nonwhite students (5.6 ± 6.4 hours). Conclusions and Implications: Teachers reported that nutrition education is important and that they are willing to teach nutrition. Efforts should be made that support integrated nutrition topics, methods of instruction, and availability of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the influence of body mass index (BMI), sex, and race on college students' optimistic bias (OB) concerning the healthiness of their own lifestyles relative to the "average college student" and best friends. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: Large university campus. Participants: College students recruited from first-year classes (1,398 female, 985 male). Variables Measured: Student height, weight, sex, race, and assessments of lifestyle healthfulness for self, best friends, and the "average college student." Analysis: Paired 2-way t tests compared lifestyle ratings for self and others. One-way analyses of variance compared differences between BMI categories. Tukey Honestly Significant Difference tests tested all pair- wise comparisons. Analyses of covariance controlling for BMI scores tested sex and race differences (P < .05). Results: College students in all BMI categories were optimistically biased in comparisons to the average college student. Optimistic bias differences were significantly smaller, however, for self and close friends. Sex and race also influenced the extent and nature of OB judgments. Conclusions and Implications: Optimistic bias may limit students' willingness to adopt and maintain more healthful behaviors. Optimistic bias can be reduced or even eliminated if close friends are specified as comparative targets. Health education campaigns, particularly those using socially normative approaches, should consider the impact of comparative target, sex, and race on OB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This paper presents the reliability and validity of a "competing food choice" construct designed to assess whether factors related to consumption of less-healthful food were perceived to be barriers to fruit and vegetable consumption in college freshmen. Design: Cross-sectional, self-administered survey. Setting: An urban public college with a large, diverse student population. Participants: A convenience sample of 408 college freshmen. Variables Measured: A "competing food choice" construct and fruit and vegetable intake. Analyses: Factor analysis, Cronbach α, and correlation coefficients were used to determine the reliability and validity of the construct. Results: Three factors were produced from the factor analysis of the 11-item competing food choice construct: "competitive food" barriers (Cronbach α = 0.73), fruit and vegetable-related "time" barriers (Cronbach α = 0.67), and "quality" barriers (Cronbach α = 0.64). Construct validity assessments revealed significant inverse correlations between fruit and vegetable consumption and competitive food barriers (r = -0.15, p < .01 current and r = -0.25, P < .01 prior) and time barriers (r = -0.12, P < .05 current and r -0.10, P < .05 prior). Conclusions and Implications: This "competing food choice" construct demonstrated satisfactory reliability and construct validity among college freshmen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]