COLLEGE STUDENTS AND EATING HABITS: A

STUDY USING AN ECOLOGICAL MODEL FOR

HEALTHY BEHAVIOR
Abstract

1. Introduction
Overweightness and obesity rates have dramatically increased over the past few decades and
they represent a health epidemic in the United States, as well as in many other areas of the
world [1,2,3]. According to a scoping review of risk behavior interventions in young men,
Ashton, Hutchesson, Rollo, Morgan & Collins [4] identified obesity as a serious health risk
with an incidence rate of obesity reaching 29% of the population aged 20–39 years old [5,6].
Physical inactivity and unhealthy dietary habits are among the main behaviors that potentially
have adverse effects on weight status in young adulthood, and consequently, the future health of
adults [3,7].
As reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) [8], the adult disease burden is due to
health risk behaviors that start during adolescence (e.g., unhealthy eating practices). For
example, most of the United States (US) population does not consume the recommended daily
amount of fruit and vegetables, nuts, and seeds. On the other hand, the consumption of added
sugars, processed meats, and trans fats is higher than the recommended daily intake [9]. It has
been shown that after the transition from adolescence to young adulthood, when independency
increases, young adults are continuously challenged to make healthful food choices [2,10].
Along with unhealthy eating behaviors, a new series of weight-related behavioral patterns
begins throughout this period, such as excessive alcohol consumption and a low level of
physical activity.
Substantial life-changing transitions happened when young adults finish high school to start
college or a working life [10]. According to the literature [11,12,13], university is a critical
period for young adults regarding food choices and their relationship with weight gain. Some
studies have even shown that college students tend to gain more weight than those who do not
attend university [14]. In order to design and support healthy nutrition campaigns (e.g., less
meat options) across campuses, it is critical to improve knowledge of dietary behaviors in the
university-age population [15].
In the last decades, there has been growing interest in the development and implementation of
health promotion interventions in the workplace [16]. Studies exploring eating behavior in
children [17], adolescents [18,19], and young adults [20] have been done in recent years;
however, theories to explain such behaviors are still moving from the nascent to the mature
stage [21].
Recently, the so-called Ecological Model has been considered as an acceptable framework to
link individual and social behaviors with environmental determinants, to reduce serious and
prevalent health problems [22].
The aim of this study is to explore the barriers and enablers of healthy eating behaviors among
US college students, using focus groups that foster open discussion between a small number of
participants. This study is the first stage of a larger research project called “CONSUMEHealth.
Using consumer science to improve healthy eating habits”, funded bythe European Union’s
Horizon 2020 research and Innovation programme (Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement
No 749514).

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Focus Groups

We selected focus group interviewing as a key methodology for the study, the elements of
which include participant observation, formal and informal interviewing, filming, and
recording, among others [23]. Focus groups are used to obtain insights and in-depth information
on why and how people think (perceptions, attitude, opinions, experience) about a topic of
interest [24] used to unlock the complexity of the decision-making process [25] and
unencumbered by what we expect to find [26]. In our study, a focus group was suitable, since
we were aiming to obtain cultural insights from a group of individuals, and to explore their
beliefs and behaviors [27], allowing for us to examine the context of healthy eating behaviors
[16,28]. Various studies have demonstrated that focus groups are an appropriate research
method to study eating habits, particularly among students [2,29]. Since the definition of this
population was not just a matter of age, but of lifestyle and identity, a focus group could help us
to better understand the meanings of healthy eating behaviors and its contexts.

2.2. Participants
Eligible participants were college students aged 18 to 25 years, who were transitioning from
adolescence to young adulthood, who lived in the USA, and who were enrolled at Cornell
University in the town of Ithaca (New York, NY, USA). Similar to previous studies [29], no
first-year university students were included in the study, due to their limited college experience.
In addition, we excluded students from nutrition classes or any other disciplines that might
transmit a greater overall knowledge or awareness of healthy eating. The final group consisted
of students from different disciplines (humanistic and scientific). These young adults were
recruited via flyers that were distributed across the University facilities, and via email using a
college student database. In the advertisement sheet, a link to an online survey was provided to
facilitate recruitment, and to give subjects the essential statement outline of the study (aim,
benefits, and risks that are associated with time, incentives, other). One advantage of our
approach was that it allowed us to recruit participants from different disciplines and years of
study. In addition, we chose to have mixed-gender groups, which could produce a greater
variety of responses and better discussion [29]. The interview guideline was designed to take
participants on a journey, starting from a broader concept of health, to more specific questions
on past, present, and future diet behavior practices.

2.3. Procedure
The recruitment of participants was carried out using an online system at Cornell University. A
recruitment rate of between six and eight participants per focus group session was planned, in
order to have at least four people in each focus group session, therefore, an over-recruitment of
two students was planned in the case of ‘no-shows’.
Following the literature [29], a semi-structured question guide was developed to identify the
key questions for the research problem (eating habits, physical activity levels, and weight
change). Enough flexibility and side-questions allowed for open discussions within the group,
to obtain more in-depth information from participants.
Projective techniques were used both at the beginning of the sessions for “ice-breaking”, and
later on to understand better emotional connections and cognitions towards the topic of interest
[30]. Specifically, the photograph response test technique was used, which consists of showing
a series of photographs that are related to the topic under investigation. A stimulus (images of
obese/overweight individuals) was presented to the group, and the participants were asked to
answer with the first words that came to their mind.
As reported by Guerrero and Xicola [24], the integration of different qualitative techniques
(e.g., projective stimuli as in this study) within the same focus group was considered to be a
mixed approach. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the Office
of Research Integrity and Assurance of Cornell University (Protocol ID: 1709007406).

2.4. Data Collection Outline

During the online prescreening registration, all of the participants completed a short
questionnaire, providing self-reported socio-demographic information, physical activity, height,
weight status, and perceived body image.
Before beginning the focus group, an information sheet about the study and a consent form for
anonymity and confidentiality were signed by each participant. Drinks and a few snacks were
provided in order to make the environment as much comfortable as possible. In addition, the
room that was used to carry out the discussions was modified to look like a living room of a
house.
As suggested in the literature [28], each focus group lasted around 90 min, and it was held in a
comfortable and quiet place. The sessions were video-audio recorded with the permission of the
participants, and were facilitated by a well-trained and experienced moderator (female
moderator with five years of experience in focus groups in the field of food, both in the public
and private context). The principal investigator was an observer, and stayed in another room
that was connected with audio and video recording systems during the focus group discussion.
The moderator directed the flow of the discussion, and ensured that all of the important issues
were covered. We opted for small groups (4–6 people), which was considered to be more
appropriate when the topic of investigation is seen as complex and personal [31]. Both the
principal investigator and the moderator did not have any type of relationship with the
participants; we strongly believe that no bias or conflict of interest exist between the research
team, the subjects, and the focus of the study.
The semi-structured questions guide (Table 1), as developed following Krueger and Casey [27],
aimed to investigate the main factors influencing eating behaviors among college students.
First, a projective technique was first used for “ice breaking”, and to facilitate the group
discussion. At the beginning, all of the participants were asked to list “five healthy eating
habits” and “five unhealthy eating habits”, and afterwards to read the list out and share it with
group. In this way, the whole group was actively involved in the discussion, and participants
became acquainted with, and felt connected with each other. The main questions focused on
factors influencing students’ health and weight-related behaviors. Before ending each of the
focus group sessions, the moderator and principal investigator decided whether further
questions were needed. At the very end of the focus group, all of the subjects chose to either
receive a monetary payment ($ 15) or university course credit (1.5) for their participation.
Table 1
Short version of the Focus Group questions guide.

Question Type Questions

Presentation of the research topic and participants (demographic

Opening and warm-up questions characteristics and some general eating habits like “what do you
have for breakfast?)

Could you list five habits related to healthy and unhealthy eating?
Introduction/Projective techniques Could you mention the first types of food/food products you
consider healthy?

How do you think the concept of healthy eating has changed?

Transition questions (to move into and Were you involved in cooking preparations in the past?
between key questions) What changes happened in your cooking habits since you started
college?

Main key questions What different eating behaviors do you have between eating out
and at home?
What is for you the meanings of the word “healthy” and
 Question Type Questions

“unhealthy”?
What is your eating behavior to stay healthy?
What are the consequences of having a healthy eating behavior?
How may have the community (e.g., colleges) impacted on your
healthy and unhealthy habits?
How can a parent/guardian positively/negatively influence on
children’s eating behavior?

Projective technique (i.e., showing images of What comes into your mind (e.g., thoughts) when you see these
overweight/underweight adults/children) images on obesity, overweightness, and a healthy body weight?

Are there any other opinions related to the topic? Is there anything
Ending
else you would like to share?

2.5. Data Analysis

In the field of health studies, the use of focus groups for research is a relatively recent
phenomena [28]. The information resulting from focus groups is usually analyzed throughout a
process of categorizing and coding the data in a systematic manner.
At the end of the six focus group sessions, the audio tapes were transcribed verbatim in
Microsoft Word by an independent transcription agency, and they were double-reviewed by two
researchers. Second, the data collected were analyzed by the principal investigator and two
research assistants who were trained in qualitative analysis. All quotes were encoded using the
computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software Nvivo11 Plus Version 11 (QSR
International Pty Ltd., Melbourne, Australia) [32]. This software helped the researchers at the
stage of data analysis, marking, and coding the transcription, and helped them to identify the
relations between categories (concepts, themes, and ideas) and individuals [28].
An inductive thematic approach, which is useful for identifying core meanings that were
relevant to the research objects, was used for data analysis, in which quotes were coded and
categorized into themes and subthemes [25,33]. These themes were organized into individual,
social, and environmental categories using an Ecological Model framework [16,22], and were
successively described. A Microsoft Excel package was used to analyze the characteristics of
the sample using responses from the questionnaire (descriptive statistics).

3. Results

3.1. Descriptive Results

In our study, six focus group discussions were conducted until saturation of new information
was reached. The final sample consisted of 35 students (23 females), with a mean age of 20.4 ±
1.5 years and a mean body mass index (BMI) of 23.2 (SD ± 4.52), which was calculated as
weight (kg) divided by height squared (m2). Most participants considered themselves to have a
healthy weight status, and few of them indicated current or past eating disorders. The
characteristics of the sample are summarized in Table 2. Participants were also from a variety of
study disciplines and different college years (from junior to senior). This variety in participant
characteristics enormously contributed to gather more insights (e.g., diverse experiences and
opinions) into the relationship between behaviors and healthy eating.
Table 2
Characteristics of focus group participants (n = 35).

Group Characteristics Responses % Mean ± SD

White/Caucasian 80
Asian (excluding South Asian) 11
Race/ethnicity
African American 6
South Asian 3

Gender (female) 66

Age (years) 20.4 ± 1.5

 Group Characteristics Responses % Mean ± SD

Body Mass Index (BMI) 23.2 ± 4.5

Business 42.9
Scientific 34.3
Field of study
Humanistic 14.3
Info not provided 8.5

Job 42.9
Students with an extra job No job 40
Info not provided 17.1

Physical activity

No exercise 15.2

Exercise 1 time per week 21.2

Exercise 3 times per week 42.4

Exercise 5 times per week 21.2

 Group Characteristics Responses % Mean ± SD

Self-assessment weight status

Underweight 9.1

Normal weight 66.7

Overweight 21.2

Population Area (size of the

city)

<5000 inhabitants 15.1

Between 5000 and 50,000

27.3
inhabitants

>50,000 inhabitants 57.6

3.2. Qualitative Results

Following the literature [31], the researchers reviewed the transcript line-by-line encoding and
classified the text. As a first step, the questions that were enclosed in the script were used as
initial categories, then during a rigorous and systematic reading of the transcript, the main
categories started to emerge [33]. The researchers used an inductive coding method to find
meaningful messages to categorize into main themes and sub-themes.
The information was then analyzed in conjunction with the Ecological Model conceptual
framework. The importance of the Ecological Model in the social sciences is the consideration
of interactions between the people’s behavior and the environment (sociocultural, policy, and
physical) [16,29].
With the results from this model, we developed a list of factors influencing healthy eating
behaviors among college students, based on content analysis of the focus groups (Figure 1). We
adapted a model by Deliens, Clarys, Bourdeaudhuij & Deforche [29], and then developed the
following main levels for the analysis: individual (intrapersonal), social (interpersonal
relationship), and university environment (community settings), and some main attributes of the
students (e.g., gender). The most significant quotes by respondents were reported to illustrate
each (sub)theme. We also decided to incorporate some basic information of the participants by
using an ID for the quotes: e.g., FG1_F21 (Focus Group 1, Female, age 21 years old).

Figure 1

Factors influencing healthy eating behaviors of college students.

3.2.1. Individual Level (Intrapersonal)

Intrapersonal factors are represented mainly by attitude, behavior, self-concepts, and skills [16].

Healthy Eating: Meaning, Perception, and Consequences

Research shows that individuals’ beliefs about a healthy diet is shaped by their psychology.
Understanding what healthy eating means is crucial to making healthy food choices across and
within product categories. Participants seemed to be aware of healthy eating habits: “For me,
healthy eating is eating clean. So, lots of fresh veggies and fruits and some sort of protein”
(FG1_F20); however, they were also aware that they did not necessarily follow this suggestion:
“Things (healthy food) that help fulfil your daily nutrition requirement, even though I obviously
don’t do that” (FG1_F20).
There was a gap between having knowledge and actually practicing it: “… now I feel like I’m
more aware of it (healthy eating), I just don’t pay attention to it” (FG5_F21). In addition, they
highlighted how the meaning of healthy eating had changed over the past decades: “when I was
a kid, I definitely thought it was more ... just eating less, ... now I understand that it’s more
eating the right things, and not necessarily eating less, but just eating different
stuff”(FG1_F21).
During the focus groups, the term “healthy” itself proved to be quite elastic: “I think about
getting a lot of balance” (FG3_M23) and it was perceived to have changed overtime: “before, it
was all about portion control, eating smaller things, but now, it’s focused more on eating
healthy things” (FG1_F20). Most participants considered their generation to be more health-
aware and more health-conscious than the previous ones. However, others believed that today,
it is harder for people to eat healthy because there is so much fast food available. For someone
whose parents taught them during childhood, healthy eating remained an important factor for
the future: “my mom told me when I was a kid, healthy eating is if your plate is colourful, so
sometimes when I went through that little phase where I was trying to eat really well at the
dining halls I’d be like, carrots, orange, tomatoes, red, I’d get a bowl of blueberries, blue.
You’d try to get every colour on your plate and that’s healthy” (FG5_F19).
Participants were aware of the long-run consequences of not maintaining a healthy diet: “It’s
risk for diseases, increasing your risk of dying earlier” (FG4_F19); “you have less health
problems, for the most part, that are related to your diet. You probably have more energy,
honestly, because processed stuff sort of slows you down” (FG1_F20). In particular, a male
participant reported: “I think that America has this epidemic, which is obesity. And I know that
leads to a whole bunch of complications, especially the demographic that I am. I understand
that our life expectancy isn’t as high as other demographics, and that’s due to obesity, diabetes,
heart disease and stuff like that” (FG2_M20).
They also considered “eating healthy” as something that was related to a lifestyle with positive
consequences to the general mindset of the individual: “I think healthy is feeling good about
yourself, having energy, and not being exhausted all day” (FG2_F18); “I think healthy goes
beyond just food, you have to be mentally healthy and physically healthy” (FG2_F19); “I tend
to like healthy food, it makes me feel better” (FG6_M22). More generally, people related the
concept of being healthy to both physical and psychological status: “I think being healthy is
both your physical appearance and your mindset… exercised and eating food, as well as
balancing it out with your mental state” (F2_M20).
We used a projective technique to create more interaction and interest on the topic. Images of
overweight/obese people were shown, and participants were then asked what thoughts came
into their mind. Most participants felt uncomfortable with describing these images. Some of
them thought that being heavily overweight or obese could be attributed to not having control
over their own lifestyle: “I feel bad for them, because I know the probably inside, they are not
happy with themselves, but it’s all your personal choice” (FG3_M19). At the same time, there
was a feeling both of sadness for them, but also a willingness to not judge other people’s weight
status. Only one person mentioned that body image was a motivator in maintaining healthy
eating: “I want to be in a good shape, and I think that’s what motivates me” (FG4_M21).

Eating Habits (Healthy and Unhealthy)

Every participant was asked to list five healthy and five unhealthy eating habits on post-it notes
and then share it among the groups (Table 3). First, snacking was associated most of the time
with unhealthy eating, as mentioned by several participants: “I’m trying to eat a heavier
breakfast so that I snack less throughout the day” (FG1_F21); “I have snacks late night, mostly,
if I’m going to snack at all, it’s generally junk food” (FG4_M19). Only a few of them tried
snacking with an healthy option: “I don’t mindlessly snack, but when I do snack, it’s always
something healthy like nuts or fruit” (FG4_F19). Some participants did not seem conscious of
having three meals a day, but preferred to have smaller snacks consistently throughout the day
and being portion-aware: “I try to eat like four to five times a day like smaller meals as opposed
to just like breakfast, lunch and dinner” (FG3_M23). Regarding drinking habits, surprisingly,
alcohol consumption was not mentioned as an unhealthy drinking habit; but more attention was
focused on the most common daily drinks (i.e., water, coffee, and soda). One female participant
said: “I like carbonated drinks, like sugary drinks that I should probably stay away from”
(FG1_F21). Many people were aware that a high sugar-sweetened beverage intake was
associated with greater weight gain.
Table 3
Top 12 self-reported healthy and unhealthy eating habits of the participants.

Frequency Frequency
Healthy Eating Habits Unhealthy Eating Habits
(n) (n)

Consumption of fruit and

26 Irregular meals 25
vegetables

Drinking water 13 Sweet food (i.e., dessert, ice-cream, candy, 21

 Frequency Frequency
Healthy Eating Habits Unhealthy Eating Habits
(n) (n)

chocolate)

Balanced diet 12 Unhealthy snacks 15

Portion control 8 High salty and fat food (i.e., fried food) intake 13

Having breakfast 8 Overeating 10

No sweet food 8 Skipping breakfast 10

Over protein consumption (i.e., too much meat,

No oils/fat (e.g., less sauces) 7 5
eggs)

No processed food (i.e., whole

7 Eating disorders 5
food)

Regular meals 7 Low water consumption 5

Protein consumption 7 Drinking soda 4

 Frequency Frequency
Healthy Eating Habits Unhealthy Eating Habits
(n) (n)

Self-prepared meals 6 Low fruit and vegetable consumption 4

Healthy snack (i.e., nuts) 5 Coffee consumption 3

Other Other

Notes: “Other”: eating habits that have been mentioned only one or two times. The researchers decided not to
report them.

The participants were asked about why American consumers do not follow the dietary
guidelines given by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Most of them
mentioned that nowadays there is a greater availability of unhealthy foods: “I think there’s a lot
more junk food now than there was then, and it’s also way cheaper than getting healthy food”
(FG1_F20); “I think junk food is way more accessible than going out to get healthy food”
(FG1_F21); “sometimes people just don’t have access to food in their neighbourhood”
(FG6_M22).

Food Preferences

Food preferences are highly complex, personal, and influenced by a broad variety of factors,
especially physiological. Even if health seemed to be important for everyone, when choosing
food, students did not take health into consideration as the most important factor, but usually
pleasure and taste. As one participant said: “I think unhealthy food just tastes better. I don’t
know, if a food tastes good to me, I have thoughts of, "Is this unhealthy?" Because I feel like
healthy food just doesn’t taste as good” (FG2_F19). Likeability as a first factor for choosing
food was confirmed by another student: “I think unhealthier food just tastes better to
everybody” (FG2_M20). Another participant highlighted the importance of the pleasure of
eating: “I really like pasta, like a lot, it’s pretty much what I eat every day. I put hot sauce on
everything” (FG5_F19).

Healthy Activities

Almost all of the participants mentioned that they had been very busy since they started tertiary
education, and that this was a barrier to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. They remembered that
exercising was as a big part of family time: “…me and my two brothers and my dad, we started
going to the gym. So we’d go to the gym like every weekend” (FG2_M20); “I play a lot of
soccer with my dad” (FG3_M19). It is clear the role of parents in incentiving activities to stay
healthy: “my parents were also very encouraging of me and my other siblings with doing
sports” (FG6_M21). Nowadays, due to time constraints associated with being a college student,
it was more difficult to stay active. The statement “not keeping junk food in the house” was
repeated by several students as a way to avoid the temptation of eating unhealthy foods, as was
having small snacks throughout the day rather than designated meals. They were also aware
about overeating, and few of them believed themselves to be good at controlling portion sizes:
“I try to get individual packages, so I have portion control” (FG2_F18).

Food Preparation and Knowledge

In order to eat healthy, consumers must have some knowledge about food, healthful products,
and the composition of a meal, among others. During the focus groups, participants were asked
about changes that they had made in their cooking habits since they had moved from home.
Some of them realized how negative the changes were in terms of eating healthy: “the first time
I lived outside of home wasn’t good. I ate out twice a day, every day, which is really unhealthy
and really expensive. So now I’m trying to cook more, which is good. I feel like I’m healthier
when I’m cooking it myself” (FG1_F21). Others confirmed how expensive it is to eat out
frequently: “Well I didn’t cook at all when I was at home. So just off campus, it’s cheaper to
cook than eating out every night, so I’m just trying to cook more” (FG1_F21).
Students were asked their involvement in preparing food when living with their parents, the
majority declared to have never helped in the kitchen or only during holiday meals. One
participant shared a personal experience: “Only for Thanksgiving or Christmas I would usually
make a dessert or something like that. Cake or cookies” (FG6_M21).
When asked to elaborate more on a healthy diet and give examples, few students had a vague
idea of what the Mediterranean diet was about: “I’ve definitely heard of it before, but I don’t ...
is it like, only eating certain Greek, Mediterranean ingredients?” (FG2_F19), and most of them
had not even heard of the term before.

Time, Price and State of Mind

The transition from living at home to the college experience was considered to be stressful.
Most of the participants mentioned a problem with stress eating, especially when studying; as
one participant said: “… I definitely snack too much when I’m stressed” (FG4_F19). Another
one: “I work too much. I don’t take the down time to exercise. I like to snack a lot. I use food to
regulate my mood” (FG6_M22). Almost all participants believed that they did not have enough
time to prepare healthy meals. The “lack of time” appeared to be an important barrier: “I don’t
have time to be going to the grocery store to just get fruit and healthy things” (FG1_F20). Time
constraints also made students skip meals: “…then sometimes I will eat at random hours during
the day, including sometimes I’ll have to skip lunch if I just don’t have enough time, which I
can see the effects, it just makes me really tired, it’s not good for working out” (FG4_F19).
Also, the relative perception of the high costs of buying healthy food (i.e., fruits and vegetables)
was one of the main barriers to a varied diet [2,34]. For many students: “junk food is way
cheaper than getting healthy food”; as one female participant specified: “it can be hard to
afford healthy food, because no matter what healthy eaters say about how easy is to find cheap,
healthy food, it’s always probably gonna be cheaper to find heavily processed junk food”
(FG1_F20). Another female participant with Asian origin confirmed with her personal
experience that: “it’s very abnormal in America that the fruit and the vegetables are much
expensive than the meat, because back in China the vegetables and fruits are very cheap, so
everyone can have access to that” (FG5_F24).

3.2.2. Social Level (Interpersonal Relationships)

Social relationships in early adulthood are predominantly formed with roommates and friends at
college, as well as with family members, even if with a lower frequency with the latter. The
perception of social pressure was a strong determinant in supporting and maintaining a healthy
diet [35]. As one participant said in relation to healthy eating: “What you eat and who you’re
around is really influential” (FG2_F20). Another one confirmed this point: “Seeing if
someone’s eating really unhealthy, you can be like: "I’m going to be the one to eat healthy
tonight", or if everyone’s eating healthy, you feel more inclined to eat healthy” (FG2_F20).
Sometimes, it was also the influence of the partner that could make a person change their
dietary habits.

Parental Feeding Behavior

Respondents were asked about how parents can negatively and positively impact a child’s
eating behavior. They agreed that it was difficult for kids and adolescents to learn about eating
healthy if their parents did not influence and teach them: “I think as a child, you look up to your
parents a lot, so instead of verbally saying, "Eat healthy, blah blah blah…" you actually have
to show it” (FG2_F19).
One student explained that sometimes there was a risk that the parents were too busy to take
care of their children’s diet: “If parents are too busy or they don’t have the income and also the
time, if they’re working too many jobs, you know, they’ll just get packaged food or processed
foods and that could definitely have a very negative effect” (FG6_M21). As a result, the parents
prefer to give them money to buy food away from home and most of them choose junk food or
fast food: “if I’m with my friends, I can kind of get away with my mom not knowing what I’m
eating. So I tend to eat what I can’t eat at home, so always unhealthy” (FG1_F21).
These young adults believed that parents should give a good example (i.e., not going to a fast
food place). Most of the students mentioned the role of the mother as a relevant figure for
giving good recommendations: “my mom has always ingrained the healthy eating thing in me”
(FG1_F20); “when I was younger ... even now, my mom only has healthy food available for me.
And if I ever shop with her, she doesn’t let me buy snacks or sweets” (FG1_F21). The
participants who mentioned that their parents were good at cooking, and liked preparing foods
from different cultures, also realized that they should not be really picky in their food choices.
Others reported that their parents used some tricks to make their children to eat healthy food: “I
think my parents just seasoned my vegetables so it would taste better. And that way I wouldn’t
really have to think about me eating vegetables” (FG4_M20). Other students experienced a
more ambiguous and controversial approach with food: “We weren’t allowed to leave the table
until I finished my food” (FG4_F21); in this case, sometimes their mothers were part of the
"Clean Plate Club”, a club where parents are used to asking their children to finish everything
on their plates.

Dietary Aspects of Home, School, and Eating Out

Respondents were asked what different eating behaviors they had between eating out and at
home. Even if young adults ate in a variety of different settings, especially after living with their
parents, the number of times eating out strongly increased. For instance, eating at home was
usually correlated with higher fruit and vegetable intakes. However, many participants said that
eating out was a kind of relief where all food desires could be satisfied: “I tend to eat what I
can’t eat at home, so always unhealthy” (FG1_F21); “when I’m eating out "I might as well
treat myself" and treat myself for nothing” (FG4_F21); “when I lived at home, I would always
eat really healthy, so whenever I go out, I tend to eat a lot of junk food” (FG1_F21). One
participant’s personal experience confirmed that: “usually when I go out with my friends or
family, I eat just such trash food. And restaurant food to begin with is already so caloric, and
then you just add on top of it, let’s get appetizers and desserts” (FG4_F19).
High school had also a strong determinant on eating habits; most of the time, eating in
secondary school was related with a negative experience: “a lot of times in high school I just ate
chips, because I just hated my school lunch, it was pretty bad. But I think if the school lunch is
the only thing that’s available to you, it’s definitely going to affect what you’re eating and how
you’re eating” (FG4_F21). Several students reported that they did not feel that the school meal
was healthy, due to limited choices. One remembered: “we always used to joke about saying
that pizza counted as a vegetable, we had to get a vegetable but pizza counted, so we’d always
get pizza” (FG4_M19). However, almost all of the participants agreed that nowadays, schools
are getting more involved in providing healthy options than in the past: “I think our school
definitely they had healthier options” (FG5_F19).

Friends and Media Pressure

Young adults are often influenced by their peers for many habits, and also when eating
behaviors are involved [29]; as one male participant, who had a high frequency in activity level
and played in a team, said: “there is just so much social pressure to eat healthy around other
people” (FG3_M23). As one female student reported: “I think every girl has this kind of thing
and you have some pressure from your friends and if you will see them wearing beautiful
dresses you want to lose weight or something” (FG5_F24). Another explained: “I think general
rule of thumb, if you see people [friends] that look healthy, that we tend to ask someone, what
do you eat? How do you do that?” (FG5_M21). Usually, meals with friends tended to be not
healthy: “when I’m with my friends in the evening we do tend to eat heavier meals, which make
me feel pretty sick the next morning”. However, for someone else, the experience was the
opposite: “I think the big thing that changed for me was when I came here at Cornell, I saw
other people and their eating habits, and some of them were eating lean or eating healthier,
and I tried to pick up on some of those too” (FG4_M21).
Many participants raised concerns about the role of television and other mass media on how an
adolescent or young adult should look: “I just feel like in the media, you see all these images of
celebrities and their body type is glorified, so you just want to eat healthier to look like that”
(FG4_F19). In addition, they also considered advertisement on TVs for candies and other sweet
foods to be negative communication on what to eat, as one participant said: “…there’s all these
ads on TVs for candies and stuff like that… kids would rather have the bright colors, the fun
candies and stuff that aren’t necessarily healthy” (FG1_F21).

3.2.3. University Environment and Student Life

Besides human physiology, the physical environment is also another element that can strongly
shape our food choices [36]. In general the surroundings where you are living can strongly
determine your diet: “I also think like your environment that you’re in and that like you’re
constantly in really affects how you eat” (FG3_M19).
The university environment could have both a positive and negative influence on eating habits,
as one participant explained: “I think if the community is driven to be healthier, then I think
once you’re in that environment, it tries to influence you to be healthier. And seeing other
people around you eat healthy and want to be healthier is a big influencer on changing your
habits. And vice versa” (FG2_F20). For example, most of the students thought that the dining
halls strongly influenced their eating habits. Some students started to eat irregularly when
starting college: “I eat irregularly, like sometimes for dinner I just don’t want anything in the
dining halls and I’ll just eat cookies or the ice cream” (FG5_F19); “I probably eat more meat
at college, I don’t know, just a lot of food” (FG5_F19). When asked what events could make a
person gain or lose lots of weight, someone said that going to college made people gain weight:
“having that sort of unrestricted freedom of being able to choose whatever you want to eat, and
also having a meal plan where it’s like an “all-you-can eat” buffet” (FG1_F20). One
participant shared a personal experience and said: “I need to go eat every meal at the dining
hall. And once you’re at the dining hall, you have unlimited food, so I feel like I overate a lot in
the dining halls. And now living off campus, I’m able to just buy what I want to cook, and
sometimes I cook all my food at once. So I can plan, this is for lunch, this is for dinner. So I can
do better with portion control” (FG1_F21).
For some other students, especially athletes, having the dining hall always available and close to
the dormitory or workplace was instead an advantage: “it was good to have the dining halls
right there so you could kind of eat whenever you wanted to. So it helped me stay healthy and
had a good eating pattern for that kind of lifestyle. And then, I think once when I got off
campus, it’s like harder to keep up with good eating patterns” (FG6_M21). Student life could
be a critical period regarding unhealthy changes in lifestyle behaviors: “I also sometimes skip
lunch when I have class or studying to do, and a lot of times when I’m studying I also eat junk
food, try to keep myself awake” (FG4_M21).
Table 4 summarizes the main barriers and enablers that are associated with health decisions
during college life.
Table 4
Summary of the main barriers and enablers to a healthy diet among college students (n = 35).
 BARRIERS ENABLERS

Individual-level
Individual-level
Not exercising
Maintenance of healthy lifestyle
Not eating healthful food
Healthy eating habits
Time constraints
Food knowledge and education
Unhealthy snacking
Meal planning
Convenience food
Involvement in food preparation
Bad mood & stress
Physical activity
High prices
Being portion-aware
Junk food home availability

Social-level
Social-level
Parental food behavior and influence
Friends pressure and influence
Friends pressure and influence
Parental food behavior and influence
Low food culture

University Environment
College’s dining services Environmental-level
Availability of high-calorie food and fast College’s dining services
food

Source: own elaboration.

4. Discussion
Using an adapted version of an Ecological Model used by Deliens et al. [29], we developed a
framework that included individual (intrapersonal), social (interpersonal), university
environment (community settings), and students’ life factors as influences affecting eating
habits. This model integrated individual healthy and unhealthy eating patterns, in combination
with the main barriers and enablers that are associated with health decisions during college life.
Many researchers [4,15,37,38,39] identified a great number of factors that may contribute to the
malnutrition epidemic, and related health problems (e.g., weight gain and other dietary
disorders) in emerging adulthood: unhealthy eating habits increased when young adults leave
their home circumstances, such as lower consumption of healthy options (i.e., fruit and
vegetables), irregular meals (e.g., breakfast skipping), and increasing intakes of unhealthy
snacks and other “junk food” (e.g., fried food). For college students, the transition phase from
living at home to living alone/with roommates during the period of postsecondary education, is
one of the most important life changes, and many food choices are deeply involved in this
change.
As indicated by other authors [2,3,4,35], the most common factors that are reported as barriers
to a healthy diet are time constraints, the high price of food items, and their availability,
followed by the lack of motivation in food preparation, which is strongly related to intention.
Regarding the latter barrier, as reported by Menozzi, Sogari & Mora [35], intention is the main
factor in predicting behavior regarding the consumption of healthy foods, such as fruits and
vegetables. Therefore, we believe that nutrition professionals within the university community
should design programs and tools that can help students to be more motivated in choosing
healthy food. During the focus groups, students realized the strong role of college facilities in
influencing their eating habits. In fact, when students start college, they will face a new (food)
environment (e.g., all-you-can-eat formula dining), which can have strong impact on their
eating habits and intention to perform a healthy behavior. Interventions across campus dining
facilities should decrease the potential barriers to healthy food, and increase self-efficacy and
behavioral controls, to encourage students to embrace a better diet [40].
Among the social enablers, students found that having the support of friends to be active in
healthy eating was an important stimulus. We also observed that students who have a higher
frequency of physical activity believe that social pressure helps them to stay healthy. Parents
also have a crucial role, both positive and negative, in shaping the concept of healthy eating and
in encouraging children in healthy activities, both related to eating (e.g., food preparation) or
more physical (e.g., sport, outdoor activities). We noticed how perceived benefits of healthy
eating also influence the intention to consume healthier food [41], which seems to be more
easily achieved if students start planning their meals (self-control technique). Moreover,
university characteristics, such as living arrangements (i.e., dormitory, off-campus, with
parents) or academic schedules (e.g., classes, exams, etc.), also influence the relationships
between individuals and their eating behaviors [18,29,42], and they should be taken into
account when designing effective and tailored multilevel intervention programs.
Finally, it should be noted that some barriers for certain individuals, might be perceived as
potential drivers by others. For instance, and not surprisingly, some students stated that “all-
you-can-eat” formulas have a negative impact on the amount and quality of food consumed,
whereas others believed that these types of dining halls facilitated their ability to have a healthy
diet.
The focus groups confirmed that both lifestyle and behavioral factors are strongly associated
with dietary patterns among college students: participants were aware that “being a healthy
person” was not just exercising and eating healthy foods, but also taking time for yourself and
being an overall happy individual.
One of the methodological limitations to the current study is that these results cannot be
automatically generalized to the whole population of university students, when considering the
specific and limited sample of participants (i.e., US college environment, healthy BMI status,
other). Another limitation is related to the presence of students who might have been more
interested in this topic, and decided to participate at the focus group, leading to “selection bias”.

5. Implications
More precision in the relationship between food and health is a topic of growing importance on
the public agenda [43]. Nevertheless, even with wide recognition that the food that we consume
has a strong impact on our health, consumers’ food preferences do not always lead to the best
nutritional choices. A better understanding of the link between diet and health among college
students is important for developing programs and behavioral change strategies to improve their
lifestyle in general, and to reduce diet-related diseases in particular [9].
This study highlights the importance of consulting college students when developing healthy
eating interventions across the campus for dining services or programs. As suggested by Stok et
al., [10], researchers in the food and nutrition field should not only focus on individual-level
factors, but they should also integrate socio-ecological aspects into the analysis. Dining halls
and other University facilities should ensure the availability of healthy food choices, as well as
promoting physical activity practices regularly. They should also provide food education and
food preparation classes, to make students more knowledgeable on how to cook and better plan
meals.
Giving college students the necessary skills to be more aware of what a healthy diet style means
would empower them to make better food choices throughout their life. As suggested by many
authors [4,44], interventions should be specific for the targeted population (i.e., young adults) in
order to help individuals to behave accordingly with their healthy intentions. For instance,
social media facilitates the interaction between individuals and organizations (e.g., university
administrators and food researchers), in order to provide tailor-made information [29,45]. This
aspect can be helpful in promoting healthy diets without creating eating disorders. In addition,
price reductions for high-cost foods in campus facilities, such as dining halls and cafeterias,
should also facilitate the purchase of more healthy options (e.g., fruits and vegetables).
Environmental modifications can include changing and/or labeling healthy food options to
make them more appealing, while creating a point of nutrition information where students can
see healthy food options.

6. Conclusions
The aim of this study was to identify factors driving healthy lifestyle behaviors among US
college students. Opinions and recommendations for effective and tailored-made intervention
programs or environmental modifications that support healthy eating were presented, using an
ecological framework that combined psychological, social, and environmental strategies.
Consumer behavior scientists typically do not contribute to the scientific debate about what is
best to eat from a nutritional point of view or give recommendations about dietary components
for the specific amounts and limits for food groups. In this study, we instead tried to understand
the individual, social, and environmental factors that influenced students’ healthy eating
choices. Our results suggest that participants were influenced by individual, social, and
university environmental factors.
The Ecological Model can help university communities to gain more insights into how and why
students make certain food choices, and support them in staying healthy.
Colleges and dining halls on campuses should acknowledge their crucial role in guiding healthy
eating behaviors, and be the first subjects to be interested in creating a healthy environment for
the students. Unless they start understanding the reasons behind unhealthy eating behaviors of
young adults, effective policies and managerial strategies to fight malnutrition (obesity,
anorexia, micro-deficiency) cannot be developed.
The next step of this research will include the collection of a larger and more representative
sample size, especially when taking into consideration the socio-cultural differences of college
students between the US and other Western countries. Considering that the same negative trend
of overweightness and unhealthy eating behavior among children, adolescents, and young
adults is emerging in Europe, and also in Mediterranean countries [46], discussions on potential
and future studies addressing this problem in a national context are advised. In addition, further
research should evaluate whether specific tailor-made interventions are effective in changing
behaviors towards a healthy lifestyle.

Acknowledgments
This study, which is part of a wider project called “CONSUMEHealth. Using consumer science
to improve healthy eating habits”, has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon
2020 research and Innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement
No 749514. We appreciate the assistance of Liam Wickes-Do and Zekun Ma, two research
assistants, for the contribution in data collection, cleaning and transcription of the focus groups.
The authors also thank all students participating in this study and the staff members of the
Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research (CISER). We also sincerely appreciate the
feedbacks and insightful comments of the anonymous reviewers who helped improve and
clarify this manuscript.

Author Contributions
G.S. took lead in writing the manuscript and was overall responsible for the study design, data
collection and analysis. C.V.-A. has contributed in the study design and in the data collection
(Focus Group moderator). C.M. and M.I.G. contributed in the result interpretation and made
suggestions and comments of the final version of the manuscript. All authors read and approved
the final manuscript.
None of the authors or affiliated institutions associated with this manuscript submission has any
financial or personal relationship or affiliation that could influence the present work.

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