title: A case study of middle school food policy and persisting barriers to healthful eating.
abstract: Decreasing access to competitive foods in schools has produced only modest effects on adolescents' eating patterns. This qualitative case study investigated persistent barriers to healthful eating among students attending an ethnically diverse middle school in a working-class urban neighborhood that had banned on campus competitive food sales. Participant observations, semi-structured interviews and document reviews were conducted. Unappealing school lunches and easily accessible unhealthful foods, combined with peer and family influences, increased the appeal of unhealthy foods. Areas for further inquiry into strategies to improve urban middle school students' school and neighborhood food environments are discussed.
authors.affiliation: a Loma Linda University School of Public Health , Loma Linda , California , USA.
authors.forename: Eddy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jara
authors.forename: Emily J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Ozer
authors.forename: Ingrid
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Seyer-Ochi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D004032:Diet; D004777:Environment; D005006:Ethnicity; D005190:Family; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005522:Food Services; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control; D010379:Peer Group; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012574:Schools; D012923:Social Class; D013334:Students; D014505:Urban Population
keywords: adolescent health; food policy; neighborhood; school