title: Lunchtime School Water Availability and Water Consumption Among California Adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the potential impact of California SB 1413, which required school districts to provide free, fresh drinking water during mealtimes in food service areas by July 1, 2011, on greater water consumption among California adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were drawn from the 2012 and 2013 state-representative California Health Interview Survey. A total of 2,665 adolescents aged 12-17 years were interviewed regarding their water consumption and availability of free water during lunchtime at their school.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three-fourths reported that their school provided free water at lunchtime, mainly via fountains. In a multivariate model that controlled for age, gender, income, race/ethnicity, body mass index, and school type, adolescents in schools that provided free water consumed significantly more water than adolescents who reported that water was not available, bivariate (standard error) = .67 (.28), p = .02. School water access did not significantly vary across the 2 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Lunchtime school water availability was related to water consumption, but a quarter of adolescents reported that their school did not provide free water at lunch. Future research should explore what supports and inducements might facilitate provision of drinking water during school mealtimes.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Health Unit, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California. Electronic address: lbogart@rand.org.
authors.forename: Laura M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Bogart
authors.affiliation: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Susan H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Babey
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California; Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Anisha I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Pan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Schuster
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D002140:California; D002648:Child; D060766:Drinking Water; D005260:Female; D005522:Food Services; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D062409:Lunch; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D060766:Drinking Water
keywords: Adolescent health; Obesity prevention; Water