| Summary: | 碩士 === 中國文化大學 === 生活應用科學系 === 99 === The purpose of this study was to understand the dietary patterns and its influencing factors of college students. Five hundred and seventy-four college students(57.8 % male and 41.8 % female) completed a self-administered questionnaire designed by researchers. The questionnaire included demographic information, lifestyle, dietary behavior, and facilitating factors, as well as barriers of dietary behavior, dietary attitude, and self-efficacy. This study performed descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson correlation analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis. The results show that slightly more than half of the students (52.8 %) ate breakfast every day and that the consumption of several healthy foods was insufficient. Less than half (45.3 %) of the students demonstrated a sufficient intake of water ; only 30 % regularly (more than 5 days per week) ate a sufficient amount of vegetables ; and only approximately 10 % reported sufficient intake of fruit, milk, and grains. Regarding unhealthy foods, more than half of the students consumed sugar-sweetened beverages every other day, and 30 % consumed snacks more often than three days a week. The results of the hierarchical regression analyses indicate that self-efficacy is the primary predictor of dietary behaviors, including dietary habits and the consumption of healthy and unhealthy foods. The facilitator and barriers of dietary behaviors varied among different foods. This study concluded the following: (1) Lifestyle: the college students in this study skipped breakfast because they woke up late or felt lazy. They consumed snacks at night because they felt like eating when they stayed up late surfing the Internet, watching TV, or playing video games. Students were more likely to eat breakfast and dinner when feeling uncomfortable, whereas dinner was generally neglected when students were attempting to lose weight. They sometimes skipped lunch and dinner during exams or when busy.(2) Economic factors: Students with a lower meal budget in this study consumed fried or roasted foods, or instant noodles more frequently. Students who worked part-time reported eating instant noodles more frequently. Such foods are probably more accessible and cheaper. Students reported skipping breakfast to save money, but not drinking water for that reason. In addition, students reported eating vegetables, fruit, milk, and Western fast foods less frequently as they are expensive, and drank sugar-sweetened beverages more frequently when refilling the drinks was free. (3) Taste and texture of food: The taste and texture of food influenced the students’ frequency of consuming foods, especially unhealthy foods, such as sugar-sweetened beverages, fried foods, roasted foods, instant noodles and snacks. However, students did not consume Western fast foods less frequently due to disliking the taste. (4) Convenience, availability, and accessibility in the environment: Students who considered bringing a cup with him/her to be inconvenient were less prone to drinking water, and students who believed eating fruit was inconvenient ate fruit less frequently. By contrast, students drank milk more frequently when it was accessible. Self-efficacy was the strongest predictor of the dietary habits and consumption of healthy and unhealthy foods, whereas dietary attitudes were a potentially mediating factor of self-efficacy. The students’ belief regarding the health impact and self-efficacy of consuming healthy foods and not consuming unhealthy foods were low, specifically for not eating unhealthy food. This finding demonstrates that the values of “facilitating health by changing dietary habits” should be imparted to college students. Furthermore, overcoming behavioral barriers and improving confidence and ability to take action is essential for encouraging healthy dietary behavior in college students.
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