Individual and School-level Factors Related to School-Based Salad Bar Use among Children and Adolescents

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between salad bar (SB) use, individual and school-level factors among children and adolescents in New Orleans schools.

Methods: Twelve schools receiving SB structures from the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools Campaign were recruited. Multi-level self-report data were collected from students (grades 3-12), school administrators, and food service directors and staff. Environmental data were obtained through direct observation. Generalized estimating equations were used to build a multivariable model to predict SB use examining student-level factors, where school was the clustering variable. A multilevel model was built to assess school-level and individual-level variables. Sample size was 1012.

Results: Female students were more likely to use the SB than males. Those with high levels of preference for healthy foods were almost two times more likely to be SB users than those who reported low preference for healthy food. After building a multilevel model for all students, only gender and healthy food preference remained significant. No other individual-level variables were significantly related to SB use and no school-level variables were significantly related to SB use. In a multilevel model examining SB use among 7^th-12^th grade students only, respondent encouragement and SB marketing were significantly related to SB use.

Conclusions: Little research has examined factors related to school-based SB use. Gender and food preference remain strong correlates of SB use. For secondary students, increased marketing efforts may be an important step. These findings can help inform school-based SBs and may improve participation rates.