Browsing by Subject "National School Lunch Program"
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Item Essays on Healthy Eating and Away from Home Food Expenditures of Adults and Children(2011-02-22) Campbell, Benjamin LouisHealthy eating and food away from home expenditures are gaining increasing notoriety within the U.S. These issues are not only a concern for businesses, but governmental policy makers have also shown interest in both increasing nutrition for children and better understanding the behaviors of those consuming food away from home. For this reason, a large amount of research has been devoted to better evaluating the effects of various governmental programs on nutrition, with an equal amount of work detailing which groups are eating away from home. The methodologies employed by past research have varied, as have the results and inferences that have been drawn. For this reason, we incorporated new methodologies, consistent with theory, in order to explain the effects of an important governmental program, National School Lunch Program, on childhood nutrition. We further established consumer profiles and the effects of transactional variables, previous away from home behavior, and decision structure on food away from home expenditures. In regards to the National School Lunch Program we found that meal nutritional quality is not higher for program participants, however, overall intake for most vitamins, minerals, and other dietary components is higher compared to non-participants that attend a school which participates in the program. The reason for increased intake is due to the increased consumption of food for participants, not due to food quality. Furthermore, comparing children that participate in the program to those attending schools that do not participate indicates that both quality and quantity are insignificantly different. Examination of blood levels and healthy eating measures indicates few differences among the treatment groups. Evaluating the effect of transactional variables and previous purchase behavior on food away from home expenditures by meal occasion indicates both play a significant role. Transactional variables consist of factors that are directly related to a meal, e.g. facility type, means of ordering, and age structure of meal participants. The effect of transactional variables is highly dependent on the variable being considered. Previous purchase behavior displays expected results with regards to past participation effects, however, past expenditure effects tended to increase spending on future meals with results being somewhat consistent across large meals. Transactional variables were also evaluated to determine their effect on food away from home expenditures by facility type. A new decision structure chronology was also implemented. Past research has focused on modeling the decision process as either a two or three-step process. The two-step structure is usually defined as the "participation at facility type" and "expenditure level" decisions, whereas the three-step structure is defined by the "participation," "facility type," and "expenditure level" decisions. We, however, propose a change to the three-step decision structure which we believe more adequately defines the decision chronology. We, therefore, model the three-step decision structure in the following order: "participation," "expenditure level," and "facility type." Results showed that both the new decision structure and transactional variables are important to the expenditure amounts and who is eating away from home at each facility type.Item Framing the National School Lunch Program(2012-12) Brock, Clare-Lieb Rivers; Jones, Bryan D.; Lin, Tse-minThe National School Lunch Program, established in 1946 under the National School Lunch Act, has grown from a commodity surplus distribution program in its early days, to its current incarnation as a nutrition program for lower income students. This paper addresses the following question, “are particular framing choices influenced by a representatives’ district or individual characteristics, or are party considerations more important in determining framing language?” Certain frameworks may be more effective for creating policy change, and given that framing shapes the way humans conceptualize a problem space, framing should be a deliberate tool used in order to constrain the debate around certain problems. In support of this claim, existing framing literature and literature on human cognition indicates that framing plays a vital role in defining the terms of debate and mobilizing the public around certain issues. However, the actual details of debate shifts and issue framing often become a ‘black box’ in theories of policy change. Content analysis of floor statements made over a 16-year period regarding the National School Lunch Program reveals that policy framing is highly dependent on district characteristics, but that language use itself does not appear to have changed significantly in the time period studied.Item Impact of the National School Lunch Program on Children's Food Security(2012-07-16) Gao, XiangThe U.S. is the world's largest economy, accounting for about 20% of world Gross Domestic Product (GDP). With a high income and a mature welfare system, households in the U.S. should have enough food and healthy diets, especially for children. However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that 9.8% of households with children were considered food insecure in 2010. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is the second largest federally assisted food program and aims to provide nutritious, well-balanced lunches for school-age children. This thesis examined the association between NSLP participation and children's food security, using the third School Nutrition Dietary Assessment study (SNDA-III). An 18-item household module was used to measure the food security status of children. An ordered probit model was estimated using a two-stage instrumental variable approach in order to address the endogeneity of program participation. We found that students with enough time to eat lunch were 12% more likely to participate in NSLP. Student participation in NSLP was also influenced by the receipt of free/reduced priced meals, being elementary or middle school age, residing in rural area, parents' having a lower education level and living in a single parent household with one employed parent or in two-parent household with both parents employed. The second stage of the model indicates that receipt of free/reduce price meals, household structure and employment, school level, race, and education have significant effects on food security status. Moreover, we found that children from marginally food-secure households have characteristics similar to those from food insecure households rather than highly food-secure households. After controlling for the endogeneity of program participation, we could not find evidence to support program participation having a significant effect on children's food security. To confirm our findings we used adult and child food security modules as alternative food security measures. A bivariate probit model was estimated as an alternative model, but there was still no significant association between NSLP and food security status. A possible reason that NSLP has no effect on food security was that participating children did not intake significantly more calories from school lunch.Item Increasing the Consumption of Whole Grain Foods in School Meals(2011-08-08) Warren, Cynthia AnnCurrent national dietary policy recommends that half, or three, of the six daily servings of grain foods be consumed as whole grains. However, most American children prefer to consume enriched, refined over whole grains. One way of increasing the consumption of whole grain foods to children is through school meals. Why children and adolescents prefer enriched, refined grains over whole grain foods is thought to be due to product color and texture, but no literature exists that quantifies this, especially within the context of the National School Lunch Program. Information and research is therefore needed to examine and address this issue. Since each school district's child nutrition department determines whether whole grain foods are offered in their schools, we conducted a roundtable discussion with Texas school dietitians to understand their experiences with providing whole grains. A phenomenological analysis of this discussion's transcript exposed how Texas school dietitians balance serving nutritious meals in their cafeterias, while maintaining customer acceptance of the foods. Whether or not students consume whole grains determines if these foods are served again. Input from participants determined which whole grain were foods tested in this study: hamburger buns, sandwich bread, tortillas and spaghetti. Focus groups were conducted with 137 elementary, middle and high school students in our targeted school district. Transcripts of these focus groups revealed the vocabulary students use to characterize their perceptions of whole grain foods tested. Using this vocabulary, consumer acceptance ballots were then developed and tested. Consumer acceptance testing of whole grain foods was conducted during scheduled lunch periods in three different schools. The main objective of this study was to determine at what percent do whole grains contained in grain foods served in school meals become unacceptable to students. Our study determined that a 51% whole grain food product was acceptable to students and a 100% whole grain product was not. Color, taste and texture of a whole grain food can influence its acceptance by these students, but that acceptance is dependent on the percent whole grain content of the food and whether it is made with white or red whole wheat flour.