Table 2.
Adjusted parental perceptions of school meal programs in a study of perceptions of school meals among California parents of K–12 students, by race and ethnicity (n = 1050).
| %a | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All (n = 1110), % | Hispanic (H) (n = 574) | White (W) (n = 227) | Asian (A) (n = 94) | Black (B) (n = 93) | Other race/multiracial (O) (n = 122) | Racial/ethnic differencesb | |
| Perceptions about school meals impact on families | |||||||
| School meals can save my family money | 81.6 | 80.5 | 83.8 | 79.1 | 79.4 | 82.0 | None |
| School meals can save my family time since we do not have to prepare a breakfast and/or lunch for my child | 79.2 | 77.0 | 84.3 | 77.8 | 80.5 | 79.7 | None |
| School meals can help to reduce stress for me/my family | 75.0 | 71.1 | 82.0 | 79.0 | 81.9 | 76.3 | H-W |
| Perceptions of school meals in terms of the school community | |||||||
| Eating school meals may benefit students academically | 57.5 | 59.8 | 58.3 | 47.7 | 61.0 | 53.1 | None |
| School meals are only for children whose families have low incomes | 17.9 | 17.0 | 20.0 | 26.2 | 15.1 | 14.1 | None |
| My child is (or would be) embarrassed to eat school meals | 11.7 | 9.5 | 16.0 | 14.5 | 13.9 | 12.2 | H-W |
The sample size in adjusted models is less than 1110 due to undetermined urbanicity for some parents (n = 60).
aThe percentage of parents who reported agreeing or strongly agreeing with each perception was adjusted by school level, urbanicity, free and reduced-price meal eligibility, the total number of children under 18 years old that live with the parent, and frequency of lunch consumption using logistic regression.
bThe statistical significance for pairwise comparisons is indicated in the “Differences” column with the pair of initials of the groups that are different from each other.