Table 2.
Characteristics of the sample of schools from Alberta (n 10) and Ontario (n 79) participating in Year 2 of the COMPASS study, Canada, 2013/14
| Total | Alberta | Ontario | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | n | % | n | % | n | % | P value† |
| School-level control variables | |||||||
| School type | |||||||
| Public | 83 | 93·3 | 10 | 100·0 | 73 | 92·4 | 0·999 |
| Private | 6 | 6·7 | 0 | 0·0 | 6 | 7·6 | |
| Location | |||||||
| Rural or small population centre | 44 | 49·5 | 10 | 100·0 | 34 | 43·0 | 0·003 |
| Medium urban population centre | 14 | 15·7 | 0 | 0·0 | 14 | 17·7 | |
| Large urban population centre | 31 | 34·8 | 0 | 0·0 | 31 | 39·3 | |
| Neighbourhood median annual household income | |||||||
| $CAN 25 000–50 000 | 7 | 7·9 | 0 | 0·0 | 7 | 8·9 | 0·095 |
| $CAN 50 001–75 000 | 62 | 69·6 | 5 | 50·0 | 57 | 72·1 | |
| $CAN 75 000+ | 20 | 22·5 | 5 | 50·0 | 15 | 19·0 | |
| Food outlets present within school | |||||||
| Cafeteria | |||||||
| Not present | 7 | 7·9 | 2 | 20·0 | 5 | 6·3 | 0·176 |
| Present | 82 | 92·1 | 8 | 80·0 | 74 | 93·7 | |
| Tuck shop | |||||||
| Not present | 80 | 89·9 | 8 | 80·0 | 72 | 91·1 | 0·266 |
| Present | 9 | 10·1 | 2 | 20·0 | 7 | 8·9 | |
| Beverage vending machines | |||||||
| No machines present | 4 | 4·5 | 0 | 0·0 | 4 | 5·1 | 0·999 |
| 1 machine present | 11 | 12·4 | 1 | 10·0 | 10 | 12·7 | |
| 2 machines present | 24 | 27·0 | 3 | 30·0 | 21 | 26·6 | |
| 3+machines present | 50 | 56·1 | 6 | 60·0 | 44 | 55·7 | |
| School beverage availability | |||||||
| Accessibility of water fountains | |||||||
| High | 71 | 79·8 | 8 | 80·0 | 63 | 79·8 | 0·999 |
| Low | 18 | 20·2 | 2 | 20·0 | 16 | 20·2 | |
| Availability of soft drinks in beverage vending machines | |||||||
| Unavailable | 45 | 50·6 | 0 | 0·0 | 45 | 57·0 | <0·001 |
| Available | 44 | 49·4 | 10 | 100·0 | 34 | 43·0 | |
| Availability of sweetened coffees/teas in beverage vending machines | |||||||
| Unavailable | 73 | 82·0 | 3 | 30·0 | 70 | 88·6 | <0·001 |
| Available | 16 | 18·0 | 7 | 70·0 | 9 | 11·4 | |
| Availability of energy drinks in beverage vending machines | |||||||
| Unavailable | 89 | 100·0 | 10 | 100·0 | 79 | 100·0 | N/A‡ |
| Available | 0 | 0·0 | 0 | 0·0 | 0 | 0·0 | |
| School neighbourhood food outlets | |||||||
| Access to restaurants within 1 km buffer of school | |||||||
| No | 13 | 14·6 | 0 | 0·0 | 13 | 16·5 | 0·347 |
| Yes | 76 | 85·4 | 10 | 100·0 | 66 | 83·5 | |
| Access to variety stores within 1 km buffer of school | |||||||
| No | 52 | 58·4 | 9 | 90·0 | 43 | 54·4 | 0·041 |
| Yes | 37 | 41·6 | 1 | 10·0 | 36 | 45·6 | |
| Access to food stores within 1 km buffer of school | |||||||
| No | 19 | 21·4 | 0 | 0·0 | 19 | 24·0 | 0·111 |
| Yes | 70 | 78·6 | 10 | 100·0 | 60 | 76·0 | |
N/A, not applicable.
†
Fisher’s exact test was used to examine differences by province.
‡
Statistic could not be computed due to lack of variability within the measure.