Table 3.

Association Between Parental Perception of School Meals with Student Participation in School Meals in the New Jersey Child Health Study (n = 1,351)

	Model 1a			Model 2b			Model 3c
Independent Variables	Odds Ratio	95%, CI	P Value	Odds Ratio	95%, CI	P Value	Odds Ratio	95%, CI	P Value
Time
Pre-HHFKA	Reference
Post-HHFKA	0.72	0.37–1.40	0.33	0.68	0.35–1.30	0.24	0.55	0.20–1.50	0.24
Gender
Male	Reference
Female	0.92	0.55–1.56	0.76	0.93	0.55–1.57	0.78	0.93	0.55–1.57	0.78
Race
Non-Hispanic White/other	Reference
Non-Hispanic Black	2.34	1.19–4.58	0.01	2.35	1.19–4.63	0.01	2.40	1.24–4.64	0.01
Hispanic	1.88	0.99–3.56	0.05	2.00	1.06–3.78	0.03	2.02	1.07–3.81	0.03
Age, years
7–11	Reference
12–18	0.88	0.51–1.52	0.64	0.98	0.55–1.74	0.93	0.99	0.55–1.76	0.96
Mother’s education
Less than high school	Reference
High school or equivalent	0.84	0.34–2.07	0.70	0.79	0.33–1.89	0.59	0.79	0.33–1.88	0.59
Some college	0.84	0.36–1.93	0.68	0.80	0.36–1.79	0.59	0.80	0.36–1.79	0.59
Eligible for free or reduced-price meal at school
No	Reference
Yes	5.01	2.94–8.53	<0.001	5.31	3.07–9.17	<0.001	5.30	3.07–9.16	<0.001
Parents perception of school meals
Unhealthy	Reference
Healthy	–	–	–	3.76	2.21–6.40	<0.001	3.48	1.96–6.18	<0.001
Perception × time point	–	–	–	–	–	–	1.35	0.38–4.86	0.65

CI indicates confidence interval; HHFKA, Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act.

^aLogistic regression of participation in school meals adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics

^bModel 1 plus parental perception of school meals

^cModel 2 plus the interaction term between parental perceptions and time point.