Table 5.
Availability of dining environment constructs by dining venue; fifteen US post-secondary institutions, 2009–2011
| Dining venue | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sit down | Fast casual | Fast food | On-campus | Dining hall | Student union | ||
| Dining environment construct | (n 68) | (n 61) | (n 46) | (n 39)* | (n 29) | (n 20) | P value† |
| % Available | |||||||
| Healthy entrées | |||||||
| Main dish | 29·4 | 36·1 | 46·5 | 23·1 | 72·4 | 45·0 | <0·001 |
| Main dish salad | 38·2 | 41·9 | 37·0 | 30·8 | 20·7 | 30·0 | NS |
| Healthy sides/salad bar | |||||||
| Non-fried vegetables | 60·3 | 32·8 | 26·1 | 33·4 | 72·4 | 35·0 | <0·001 |
| No sugar-added fruit | 20·6 | 28·2 | 26·1 | 61·5 | 82·8 | 45·0 | <0·001 |
| Vegetarian options | 35·3 | 24·6 | 26·1 | 20·5 | 82·8 | 15·0 | <0·001 |
| Baked chips | 4·4 | 16·4 | 19·6 | 38·5 | 13·8 | 55·0 | <0·001 |
| Whole-wheat bread | 19·1 | 36·1 | 30·4 | 59·0 | 93·1 | 50·0 | <0·001 |
| Low-fat and non-fat milk | 17·6 | 27·9 | 41·3 | 56·4 | 96·6 | 60·0 | <0·001 |
| 100 % fruit juice | 52·9 | 42·6 | 50·0 | 59·0 | 72·4 | 60·0 | NS |
| Diet soda | 100 | 93·4 | 97·8 | 89·7 | 100 | 90·0 | NS |
| Salad bar | 10·3 | 86·2 | 35·0 | <0·001 | |||
| Facilitators of healthy eating | |||||||
| Nutrition information available at POP | 7·4 | 9·8 | 28·3 | 10·3 | 34·5 | 15·0 | 0·002 |
| Nutrition information or healthy entrées identified on menu | 17·6 | 14·8 | 34·8 | 15·4 | 24·1 | 10·0 | NS |
| Reduced-size portions offered | 36·8 | 34·4 | 23·9 | 2·6 | 6·9 | 30·0 | <0·001 |
| Special requests encouraged | 7·4 | 3·3 | 13·0 | 7·7 | 31·0 | 20·0 | 0·002 |
| Signs show healthy menu options | 4·4 | 14·8 | 19·6 | 20·5 | 24·1 | 20·0 | NS |
| Signs encourage healthy eating | 0 | 9·8 | 17·4 | 25·6 | 31·0 | 45·0 | <0·001 |
| Barriers to healthy eating | |||||||
| Signs encouraging unhealthy | 17·6 | 9·8 | 15·2 | 25·6 | 13·8 | 25·0 | NS |
| Signs encouraging overeating | 16·2 | 11·5 | 23·9 | 10·3 | 3·4 | 25·0 | NS |
| Large portion sizes | 14·7 | 11·5 | 43·5 | 12·8 | 6·9 | 30·0 | <0·001 |
| All-you-can-eat | 11·8 | 6·6 | 2·2 | 2·6 | 79·3 | 5·0 | <0·001 |
| Special requests discouraged | 16·2 | 3·3 | 2·2 | 0 | 3·4 | 0 | <0·002 |
| Price | |||||||
| Combo meals | 20·6 | 19·7 | 56·5 | 35·9 | – | 55·0 | <0·001 |
| Charge to share entrée | 4·4 | 4·9 | 0 | 2·6 | – | 0·0 | NS |
| Reduced portion costs less | 13·2 | 3·3 | 6·5 | 2·6 | – | 20·0 | 0·019 |
| Healthy entrées costs more | 0 | 1·6 | 2·2 | 10·3 | – | 5·0 | 0·034 |
POP, point of purchase.
*On-campus restaurants are the snack bars/cafés.
†Pearson χ 2 statistic used to assess significance in distribution between each dining venue for each construct.