Lunch frequency among adolescents: associations with sociodemographic factors and school characteristics

OBJECTIVE: To investigate: (i) how lunch frequency of adolescents varies between schools and between classes within schools; (ii) the associations between frequency of lunch and individual sociodemographic factors and school characteristics; and (iii) if any observed associations between lunch frequency and school characteristics vary by gender and age groups.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional study in which students and school headmasters completed self-administered questionnaires. Associations were estimated by multilevel multivariate logistic regression.

SETTING: The Danish arm of the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study 2010.

SUBJECTS: Students (n 4922) aged 11, 13 and 15 years attending a random sample of seventy-three schools.

RESULTS: The school-level and class-level variations in low lunch frequency were small (intraclass correlation coefficient <2·1 %). At the individual level, low lunch frequency was most common among students who were boys, 13- and 15-year-olds, from medium and low family social class, descendants of immigrants, living in a single-parent family and in a reconstructed family. School-level analyses suggested that having access to a canteen at school was associated with low lunch frequency (OR=1·47; 95% CI 1·14, 1·89). Likewise not having an adult present during lunch breaks was associated with low lunch frequency (OR=1·44; 95% CI 1·18, 1·75). Cross-level interactions suggested that these associations differed by age group.

CONCLUSIONS: Lunch frequency among Danish students appears to be largely influenced by sociodemographic factors. Additionally, the presence of an adult during lunch breaks promotes frequent lunch consumption while availability of a canteen may discourage frequent lunch consumption. These findings vary between older and younger students.