2024 Volume 32 Issue 2 Pages 94-103
Objective: To determine the factors related to middle school students adjusting the amount of food consumed before school lunches.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study with 973 junior high school first graders at five public junior high schools in Kumamoto City, Japan. Of these, 659 valid responses were analyzed. Data on basic demographic information, height, weight, food waste during lunchtime, adjustment of the amount of food (staple food and side dishes) consumed before eating school lunch, and anxiety factors before school lunch were collected. We conducted a logistic regression analysis, adjusting the amount of food consumed before eating school lunch as the dependent variable and anxiety factors before school lunch as the independent variables.
Results: Anxiety about not having enough time to eat school lunch was associated with adjusting the amount of food consumed before eating lunch (odds ratio [95% confidence interval], staple food: males: 2.49 [1.34, 4.62], females: 2.39 [1.41, 4.06], and side dishes females: 2.31 [1.37, 3.88]). Anxiety about eating the entire school lunch causing stomachaches was associated with adjusting the amount before eating (staple food: males: 5.89 [2.29, 15.10], females: 4.15 [1.85, 9.30], side dishes: males: 4.43 [1.67, 11.74], females: 3.44 [1.59, 7.51]).
Conclusion: The results suggest that students who are anxious about the time of eating and their physical condition after eating adjusted the amount of food they ate before eating their school lunch.
