Date Thesis Awarded

5-2010

Access Type

Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only

Degree Name

Bachelors of Science (BS)

Department

Psychology

Advisor

Catherine A. Forestell

Committee Members

Cheryl L. Dickter

Robert J. Scholnick

Abstract

Currently, a third of children in the United States are classified as overweight or obese, and the prevalence of obesity has doubled for children between the ages of six and eleven over the past thirty years. In order to address this serious public health problem, a variety of nutrition programs are being implemented across the country. The present research aims to analyze the effectiveness of one such program, the School Health Initiative Program, in two local Williamsburg-James City County Schools. Children at one school (n=28) received information about healthy eating and exposure to a variety of healthy foods, while children at the other school (n=30)received the health information, but not the healthy food exposure. Assessment of children's knowledge about healthy eating and their willingness to try eight different fruits and vegetables before and after the program indicated that health knowledge increased as a result of the program at both schools regardless of the food exposure component. However, children at the school with the food exposure were more likely to try fruits after the program than were children who did not have the exposure. These results suggest that while providing children with nutritional information may increase their knowledge about healthy eating, their willingness to consume healthy foods is enhanced by exposure to fruits and vegetables.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Comments

Thesis is part of Honors ETD pilot project, 2008-2013. Migrated from Dspace in 2016.

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