Outdoor MEDIA Study: Do food and beverage outlets differ by school-type or school-level Socio-economic Status?

INTRODUCTION:  The purpose of this study was to determine if the number and type of food and beverage outlets differed by school type or school-level socio-economic status (SES).

APPROACH:  Primary data was collected on the location of food and beverage outlets located within a half-mile of 19 middle and 13 high schools.  Schools with greater than 60% of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch (as reported by the school district) were classified as lower SES schools.  Bivariate correlations were run to determine associations between types of outlets.  Individual ANOVA models were run to determine differences in outlet type (i.e. grocery stores, convenience stores/gas stations, food trailers, fast food restaurant, and other restaurant) by school type (i.e. middle or high school) and by school-level SES (i.e. lower or higher SES). 

RESULTS:  All of the outlet types were all significantly correlated (p<0.05), suggesting that food and beverage outlets are often spatially clustered.  There was no difference in number of outlets by school type.  When considering school-level SES, there was a significance difference in the number of fast food outlets present  (p=0.05), with lower SES schools having more fast food outlets (m=2.0) when compared to higher SES schools (m=0.4).

DISCUSSION:  On average, there were five times more fast food outlets within a half-mile around lower SES schools as compared to higher SES schools. This is particularly problematic as access to fast food outlets this close to campus may lead to increased consumption of fast food among an already at-risk group.